The Path That We Must Choose
by Sandtalon
Summary: On the night that the Sound come to pick up Sasuke, something happens that they didn't expect: Team 7's bond strengthens and foils the Sound's Plan. Team Seven now must choose what path they want to take in life. Team 7-centric. AU. Rated T for safety
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I am searching for a Beta, if you are interested please send me a message

**Disclaimer: **I wish I could say I owned Naruto but I don't, I don't even own any Naruto items. I do however own the plot.

**The Path That We Must Choose.**

**Summary:**

_On the night that the Sound come to pick up Sasuke, something happens that they didn't expect: Team 7's bond strengthens and foils the Sound's Plan. Team Seven now must choose what path they want to take in life. Team 7-centric. AU. Rated T for safety._

-----

Sasuke stared out of the window, his narrowed eyes slightly appearing just like Orochimaru's. His normally cold eyes filled with firey wrath making thirst for power and the anger of how his brother Itachi had gone for Naruto, the dead-last, completelly ignoring Sasuke.

From behind him he could hear Sakura's whimpering, but he did not care; at least not at the moment, he did not have time to deal with the kunoichi's fragile feelings.

He heard footsteps come near his room and stop at the doorway, Sasuke whipped his head around to see Naruto, with sheepish smile on his face enter the hospital room where his two teammates were.

--

Naruto stopped in his tracks when he saw Sasuke glaring at him, loathing and anger evident in his eyes, and matched Sasuke's glare

"Fight me" Sasuke said coldly, ending the staring contest as he got out of the hospital bed.

"What?? Here?" Naruto asked dumfounded as he looked around the small hospital room.

Amazed at Naruto's stupidity Sasuke snorted "follow me" and walked out of the room without paying attention to Sakura's pleas or waiting to see if Naruto would follow, since he was sure he would.

As Sasuke walked out of the room Sakura turned her plea to Naruto who just whispered "We have to do this." and silently followed Sasuke out of the room

Exasperated and not knowing what else to do, Sakura did what she always did and followed her two teammates up to the hospital's roof.

Up on the roof another staring contest occured between the two of the leaf genin, the third frantically looking between them.

---

Sakura was praying that someone would come and stop them, it did not matter whatever punishment was bestowed on her team for trying to fight on the hospital roof, Sakura just wanted the conflict to end.

Sakura's heart sank as it became evident that help was not going to come, and the two boys ended their staring contest and charged at each other ready to fight.

The beginning of the fight was taijutsu only, and as a surprise to Sakura, Naruto's taijutsu matched Sasuke's. When Sasuke struck a successful blow, Naruto would hit him just as hard and when Naruto hit Sasuke, the raven-haired boy would hit back.

After a few minutes, the dust that had been raised during the fight had settled and the two fighting genin stood opposite of each other, both with visible wounds and bruises, and panting and heaving heavily.

---

Naruto's body burned and ached. 'I do not know how long I can keep this up' Naruto winced as he shifted back into a combat stance 'I am still not fully recovered from my last battle' he eyed Sasuke's condition before adding 'but neither is he and I will not show the teme any weakness'.

Naruto put on a confident smile and was pleased as it had its desired effect and an angry scowl appeared on his opponent's face.

---

Sasuke scowled as Naruto's facial expression took on a confident air; how was it that the dobe could still be confident that he had a chance of beating him when it was evident that he was struggling just to stay standing?

Mimicking Naruto, Sasuke shifted into his own combat stance and realization hit him, he was in the same state Naruto was in and as it was the battle could go to either one of the leaf shinobi.

Sasuke smirked at the thought, it was the time to finally see which one was the strongest of the two, both had waited a long time for this, what was their rivalry battle, and were almost to the point of shaking with excitement.

Analyzing the battle once more, Sasuke came to the conclusion that they both had enough chakra left for one more attack, the attack that would decide everything, across of him Naruto seemed to have realized the same thing and had summoned two kagebunshins to help him prepare for his last attack.

"Ready Dobe?" Sasuke asked, voice filled with anticipation.

"Brink it Teme!" Naruto yelled back with equal anticipation.

Both boys laced with determination to fulfill their indivual dreams charged their most powerful jutsus; jutsus that were taught to them so they could protect what was precious to them , and began running toward each other, arms extended and fully intending to land the winning blow

In the background the pink haired kunoichi watched as her teammates charged each other with attacks that could seriously injure if not kill each other; neither seeming to realize the actual potential of their attacks. Unable to think of another way to stop those who she considered her family from killing each other , Sakura ran to the center of the roof and stood in between the incoming attacks

"Please stop!" She screamed as she closed her tear filled eyes and prepared for the incoming impact. 'If I can't stop them from fighting, then I will at least be able to stop them from killing each other' she thought as she heard the roaring wind and the sound of one thousand birds grow closer as well as loud cursing from both Naruto and Sasuke.

---

Naruto's eyes widened as Sakura ran in between him and Sasuke. "Sakura!! Get out of there!" Naruto exclaimed while he struggled to change his course in vain. "Damn! I can't stop!" Naruto yelled as he realized that there was no way he was not going to hit the kunoichi.

--

Sasuke saw the pink-haired kunoichi jump into the path of his chidori. His eyes widening in horror as he, like Naruto just had, realized that he could not stop. "I am going too fast!" he yelled as he saw the distance between his lightning sword and Sakura decrease at an alarming rate.

----

Naruto and Sasuke closed their eyes, neither able to bring themselves to watch what would inevitably happen. The three genin felt their teammates' presence get closer and closer and just as they expected the impact, they felt the presence of the fourth and last member of the team appear.

Confused as to what had just happened, they opened their eyes to see Kakashi who was firmly gripping Naruto's and Sasuke's wrists, fling the two boys off, sending Sasuke to crash into a water tank on one side and Naruto into a water tank on the other side.

Both boys slowly got up from their respective landing places and looked over to where their sensei stood over the teammate they had almost hurt, then away from their sensei's angry and disappointed face.

--

Sasuke looked at the hole his Chidori had made on the water tank, he managed to smirk in satisfaction even after everything that happened when he compared it to the hole that Naruto's Rasengan had made.

It was not that he did not care that Sakura had almost gotten hurt because of him and Naruto, it was just that he _needed_ to know he was still stronger than the dead-last for his own sanity. Since if the dead last could beat him, how could he ever hope to kill his brother and avenge his clan? That would make his one goal in life, his _fate_ impossible to accomplish and render his life useless. He just had to know that he was stronger.

"Sasuke." Kakashi's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he faced his sensei, doing his best to keep a straight face and keep the mixed emotions of pride, power-hunger, and the ones that wanted to be shown the most: shame and an aching heart filled with guilt.

---

"You could have killed Sakura" Kakashi stated simply and waited to see the youth's reaction.

Regret and guilt clouded Sasuke's eyes if only for a second or two before being hidden by his passive face again.

Kakashi mentally sighed, although he was **extremely** angry and disappointed with his students, the fact that Sasuke felt something meant that he was not too far gone and could still be helped to escape the future that his thirst for power and revenge was currently leading him to. Still, he needed to handle the current situation.

"Sasuke, go cool off" He said softly, then when he saw Sasuke's shocked expression before he was able to hide it he quickly added "I will deal with you later" his voice still soft, but filled with command.

---

Sasuke obediently nodded, he had not expected their actions to go unpunished but it was worth it, he just wanted to reassure himself that he was on the right path, that he was still stronger than the dobe, and for that he was willing to take any punishment. Sure, he did feel guilty and like a bastard that they had put Sakura in danger, but he could not help it, he had to know.

However now that he knew, he was not going to risk angering Kakashi anymore, the jounin's current demeanor was scary enough and Sasuke did not want to find out how much scarier it could get if he angered him more. Besides, in order to avenge his family, Sasuke had to be _alive and_ _well_, and he was sure that if Kakashi did get angrier... he was not going to live to see another day, or at least be able to walk.

Sasuke back flipped off the hospital roof and landed on a ledge, casually looking up to see if his sensei was still sitting on the water tank but opened his mouth in amazement at what he saw instead. Across from where he had crashed into the water tank, was the water tank Naruto had crashed into and it had a large hole on the back, much larger than the whole Sasuke had made with his chidori.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in anger and his gaping mouth contorted into a scowl. The dobe had caused more damage than him, one of the last surviving member of the Uchiha Clan, the rookie of the year, and the avenger whose fate was to bring down his own brother, the one who had massacred his clan.

Sasuke, unable to hold his anger in anymore, punched the wall behind him and severely dented it, before heading out of the village and into the forest nearby.

----

Naruto watched as Kakashi appeared sitting down on the water tank where Sasuke had landed and began talking to Sasuke. He looked at the damage that the water tank had gotten because of Sasuke's chidori and paled at the thought of what would have happened if their sensei had not shown up.

Pictures of a bleeding and maimed Sakura popped into his head, he did not need to feel the anger that Kakashi gave off in waves to know that what he and Sasuke had done was wrong.

Naruto looked at where Sakura sat, wiping off the tears from her cheeks and gazing at a group of birds that flew overhead.

"Naruto"

Naruto winced as Kakashi announced his name calmly. Naruto would have preferred that his sensei yelled or even hit him than talked to him with the calm tone full of anger and disappointment he was using now.

"Yes sensei?" Naruto muttered looking at the ground the ground, unable to bring himself to look up at his sensei.

"Look at me" Kakashi ordered leaving no room for disobedience.

Naruto sighed as he slowly brought up his gaze to meet Kakashi's

"You know what you did was wrong do you not?" Kakashi questioned

"Hai, sensei" Naruto said struggling to keep his voice clear.

"You also know that you and your teammates will be punished?" Kakashi continued.

At the last question Naruto's eyes shot up in disbelief and he glanced back at Sakura before exclaiming "Sakura too!?"

Kakashi nodded and Naruto angrily complained "but she did not do anything wrong! It was just me and Sasuke fighting, she tried to.."

Kakashi lifted his hand for silence and as much as Naruto wanted to ignore the order and continue his protesting, the glare that he was receiving made him think twice before doing so.

"You are a team. You get recognized as a team, you get punished as a team" Kakashi said sternly.

As the anger vanished from Naruto's eyes and was replaced with more than they had had before , Kakashi relented and added "though she will not get punished as severely as you two."

To that Naruto just nodded, but it was evident that a tiny portion of the guilt had gone away. Naruto looked up to his sensei obviously awaiting orders as to what to do now.

"Naruto, go back to you apartment. You are restricted to it until ordered otherwise. We shall discuss this later, and expect a visit from Jiraiya-sama."

"Hai!" Naruto saluted and jumped off the roof like Sasuke had (minus the back flip) to lan on another building's roof and headed in the direction of his apartment.

----

Kakashi sighed as he watched the now distant Naruto. '_This is going to be a long day'_ he thought glumly,

"Jiraiya-Sama, I will leave it to you to talk to him at the moment? I will later, but I have a more pressing matter to deal with right now." Kakashi called to the before unnoticed Sannin sitting below the water tank Naruto had hit.

"Hai, I can't believe they used those attacks on each other the fools could have killed each other and Sakura!" the Sannin responded.

Kakashi nodded to Jiraiya's statement and turned to where Sakura was sitting. His eyes softened as he saw his student gazing up at to where another group of birds flew over head, but then he shook the thoughts of sympathy that had flooded him away.

It did not matter that she did not fight, they were a team and would be treated like one, besides Sakura had not done the right thing anyway.

"Sakura, come here." Kakashi called to his student, anger and disappointment had dissipated from his voice and only left fatherly concern and kindness.

"Hai sensei" Sakura said as she slowly stood up and walked over to Kakashi

"Are you okay?" he asked softly and Sakura just nodded affirmative.

"Now, while you wanted to do the right thing and stop the fight, there were other ways that would have been much more effective than what you did to do so were there not?: Kakashi paused before continuing "such as making it so that this battle never was able to happen?"

For the second time today, one of his students turned their face and looked at the floor in shame. "Hai Kakashi-sensei, it is just... I could not, I was not thinking straight Please forgive me!" Sakura said now on the verge of tears as she bowed to her sensei,

Kakashi's eyes softened and he grabbed Sakura's shoulders as he kneeled down so that she looked at him in the eye.

"Now, now, Sakura. Did I not tell you everything is going to be okay? Just like it was before? I just need you to understand that you what you did was not the best thing you could have done, and that you are going to be punished just like Naruto and Sasuke, because you are a _team_" Kakashi explained emphasizing the word team so that Sakura knew they were still together and this was not going to make them fall apart.

"Hai, thank you" Sakura thanked her sensei in a voice barely audible as she recalled the tears that had been threatening to spill.

Straightening up and assuming a tone of command Kakashi ordered "Sakura, as of now you are restricted to your house until given orders that say otherwise. Go there now."

"Hai!" Sakura shouted with newfound strength and like the rest of her team jumped off the roof and head towards another part of the village .

"Well, time to go deal with the brats is it not?" Jiraiya's voice sounded from behind Kakashi as they walked down the stairs of the hospital, like decent people unlike the three young genin.

"Indeed it is" Kakashi replied as they exited the hospital and turned to go towards the forest where Sasuke had headed.

"Good luck!" Jiraiya called back as he turned towards the dark and lonely road that led to the outskirts of the village, and where Naruto's apartment was located.

------

**A/N: Thank you for reading! I give cookies to all those that review, whether you liked it or not. I'm sorry that most of the chapter was just like the cannon chapter/episode but it was necessary for me to set the scene. I apologize for my grammar and can only say that I am getting a Beta to help**

**Chapter Two is ready to be typed and posted but first I want to make sure I have a couple of reviews :D**

**Have fun reading!**

**--Sand**


	2. The Three Meet

**Sand: Hi again! Here's the next chapter. Oh and remembe...**

**Naruto: Can I do the disclaimer? Pleaase?**

**Sand: Sure, why not?**

**Naruto: YEA! Sandtalon does own N... *Sakura appears out of nowhere and punches Naruto***

**Sakura: Shut up! You're going to get Sandtalon sued.. or sent to jail. *Drags Naruto off the stage***

**Sand: Okay... Sasuke want to finish the disclaimer?**

**Sasuke: Hn. Sandtalon does not own Naruto nor any of the characters.**

------

Kakashi was filling out a mission report late at night when he felt one of his seals be triggered.

He frowned, it was one of the seals he had placed around his student's homes yesterday morning to make sure they remained where they had to be until he had time to talk to the Hokage about the incident that had occurred on the hospital roof two days ago.

Kakashi's eyes widened as he felt two other seals activate only a few minutes apart, those seals that were in the homes of his other two students.

Cursing under his breath, Kakashi jumped out of the open window and into the night sky, leaving the paperwork forgotten in favor of finding out what his three students were up to defying orders at this time of night.

-----

Sasuke took a last look at the picture of Team Seven before ripping it to shreds the picture represented his weakness, it represented the bonds formed with others , bonds such as friendship and family, bonds that held him back from fulfilling his ambition and destiny.

Sasuke grabbed his pack that contained explosive tags, shuriken, kunai, and other weapons as well as a few sets of clothes, and was walking out of the Uchiha compound when he suddenly felt of surge of chakra spike and dissapear as fast as it had come.

Alarmed he quickly looked around in search of an intruder but he almost slapped himself when he saw the faintly glowing characters of a seal. How could he have been so careless? Of course Kakashi would have had some sort of security placed to see if he stayed in his house. He was in house arrest for goodness sake!

'This is what bonds do to you! They make you weak and more liable to underestimate people' he thought angrily as he began running to the gate where the Sound Four were going to meet him and take him to Orochimaru.

He did not have much time if Kakashi would come out to see what he was doing outside his house, and there was no doubt that he would.

Silently jumping up onto a roof of a nearby building so he would not wake anyone up and arouse suspicion, Sasuke made his way to the gate as fast as he could.

Sasuke was too worried looking for signs of Kakashi and sensing for his chakra that he forgot that a certain pink-haired kunoichi who was also under house arrest lived in the area and passed by her window on his way out of the village.

-------

Sakura gazed up at the night sky, how she wished she could be outside, lying on the soft grass in the park or in the warm roofs watching the stars like she usually did on a clear night like tonight. Her eyes drifted to the roof across of her house where she would constantly lay on to watch the stars.

Sakura frowned as she noticed a barely visible figure jump from roof to roof. 'Who could be out at this time of night?' she wondered as she stared at the figure as he passed under a street light trying to see who it was.

Sakura shut her eyes and opened them again to make sure she had seen what she thought and was not imagining things, but as she opened them and once again concentrated on the shadowy figure she saw him once again.

The raven shaped hair, the shorts, and even the Uchiha symbol on the back of a collared shirt. It was all there, they figure was definitely Sasuke.

Sakura's first instinct was to open the window and chase after Sasuke, but she hesitated, if she left her house the seal she had seen Kakashi place yesterday would most likely alert him that she had gone against his orders.

After struggling with herself for a short while, Sakura remembered what the first lesson that Team Seven had been taught by their sensei.

_----Flashback----_

_"You guys are the first I pass. Everyone else I have ever been assigned before have been morons, who let their teammates suffer because they are following my every order." Kakashi told the surprised genin as he looked up at the sky._

_After a brief pause Kakashi continued "A ninja must look underneath the underneath. Those who break the rules and codes of the ninja world are called trash... but those who do not take care of their comrades and teammates are lower than trash." _

_----End Flashback----_

'If Sasuke is disobeying orders he certainly needs help' Sakura thought as she opened her window and jumped out of it. ignoring the chakra spike that signaled that the seal had been activated.

Sakura silently jumped from roof to roof, following the path that Sasuke had travelled through only minutes before.

-----------

Naruto looked at his untouched ramen, he could not explain it but he had a bad feeling that something was going to happen, and that feeling was preventing him from enjoying one of the most precious foods in the world, second only to Ichiraku's ramen.

Naruto shot an impatient glance to his apartment's door, one that had remained closed for the past two days and thought 'I need to take a walk and clear my mind. I feel like a caged dog who has not been able to stretch his legs in the past two days.'

Naruto walked over to the door and as he opened it and prepared to take a step outside he mentally added 'Besides, if I am careful and stay out of sight, how will Kakashi-sensei even know I left my apartment?'.

Naruto confidently walked out until he felt a chakra spike. Naruto muttered curses under his breath as he slipped into a combat stance, frantically looking around in search of the enemy.

After a few minutes of silence and nothing actually happening, Naruto decided that he had just imagined the chakra spike and continued to walk towards an empty road.

-------

Sakura narrowed her eyes slightly as she noticed that Sasuke was heading towards one of the gates, she looked around in search of a shorter route towards his destination.

As she found the ideal shortcut Sakura changed her course from her previous path following Sasuke to the new route she had planned out.

Thanks to the shortcut she had taken, Sakura arrived at the gates several minutes before Sasuke and was able to see him jump down from a roof and walk down the road with his pack on his back.

Sasuke stopped and stared at Sakura, surprised because of her presence but hiding it well under a passive face. "Why are you prowling around here in the middle of the night, Sakura?" Sasuke asked plainly.

Sakura hesitated and looked down at the ground before meeting Sasuke's cool gaze and answering "I guess that in your haste to get out of Konoha before Kakashi had time to find you, you forgot where I lived and passed in front of my window."

'Damnit! How could I have been so foolish and careless?!' Sasuke mentally berated himself while stifling the urge to slap himself. Finding nothing else to say Sasuke responded with a simple "Hn."

Ignoring his response, Sakura gained the courage that she needed to ask the question that was throbbing in her mind. Without looking away from Sasuke's eyes Sakura slowly asked "Why are you leaving us?"

Sasuke again had to mask the feeling of guilt and longing, longing to turn back and go to his home so that tomorrow could be a normal day, but he pushed those feelings down, he could not go back.

Instead he answered Sakura's question as coldly as he could "Bond make me weak, especially the bonds that I have developed with Team Seven. To avenge my family and fulfill my destiny, I must break those bonds." With that Sasuke walked past the shocked Sakura who seemed to be frozen in place and closer to the gates.

"So that is what you think eh Sasuke?" A too-familiar voice growled from the darkness. "That we do nothing but hold you back?" Naruto finished, coming out to the shine of the street light.

"Hn, Dobe. Are you not supposed to be under house arrest?" Sasuke turned to Naruto.

"As are you Teme." Naruto responded.

"Whatever, I have to go" Sasuke said as he turned back to the gates and continued walking.

"What kind of twisted logic do you have Sasuke?" Naruto snarled, getting angrier with each step Sasuke took. "Look at Bushy Brows, and how he became so strong because of hard work and the bond he formed with his sensei, so strong he can beat you without the use of ninjutsu or genjutsu." Naruto said remembering how Lee had told them his story.

"Do you not remember how our bond made us stronger in the Mission in the Wave? How you saved me from the Demon Brothers and I defeated Haku because I thought you were dead?" Naruto urged Sasuke to understand, using aspects of their relationship that were not supposed to be voiced, and the three members of Team Seven knew would never be voiced again.

Sasuke turned around to face Naruto again before responding "Sure, bonds help make fine _Leaf_ Shinobi, but that is not enough for me. If I am to fullfill my ambition I need to be stronger than the average shinobi, if not I will fail."

"You can do that here!" Naryto yelled losing control of his temper. " I mean look at Kakashi-sensei and how strong he is, heck if that is not enough look at the Yondaime! He was so powerful he ended the war with Iwa single handedly and killed the Nine-Tailed Fox, and he did it all here in Konoha, as a loyal shinobi, not a missing nin!"

Sasuke opened his mouth to retort when an icy voice asked from the shadows of the trees "What is taking so long, Sasuke?"

Looking over to the trees to find the source of the voice, the three found four sets of gleaming eyes staring at them from the darkness.

---

**A/N: Sorry for the short length, it was originally twice as long but I decided to split chapter two into two chapters.**

**Simsen: Thank you for giving me the benefit of the doubt, I hope you like this chapter *hands over a cookie*.**

**Thank you for reading, please review!**


	3. The Brothers Fight

Chapter Three:

-Review of Chapter Two:-

Sasuke opened his mouth to retort when an icy voice asked from the shadows of the trees "What is taking so long, Sasuke?"

Looking over to the trees to find the source of the voice, the three found four sets of gleaming eyes staring at them from the darkness.

Four ninjas appeared out of the shadow of the trees including the one that seemed to have just spoken and walked to stand behind Sasuke.

"Nothing." muttered Sasuke. "I will take care of it"

Amused, the only kunoichi mocked "It seems that his teammates have come to stop Sasuke-kun from leaving them."

The largest of the four chuckled at the scene "How cute, but we do not have time. How about we help Sasuke deal with this?"

"Okay, but the pink haired brat is mine!" the kunoichi yelled she launched, fist extended, in the direction where Sakura was standing.

"Sakura!" Naruto and Sasuke exclaimed as they recognized the danger and tried to intercept the attacking ninja but were held back by two of the other ninjas and lifted up off the ground a few inches by the collars of their shirts, rendered unable to do anything as Sakura who was too slow to dodge was sent flying into a tree and knocked out on impact.

"SAKURA!" Sasuke yelled, entering a mad rage at the sight of her unconscious body.

A loud snap was heard.

Sasuke widened his eyes in disbelief and stared at the sound-nin in front of him, his cheek stinging. "Pull yourself together! Aren't this the bonds that you complain make you weak? The bonds you need to break?"

Unable to speak , Sasuke just glared at the Orogakure shinobi. 'Kuso! He's right! These bonds are the very ones that are dragging me down' Sasuke thought angrilly transferring his stare to Sakura's limp body.'but... I can't stand seeing them hurt. I want to break these bonds, but not like this.'

His decision made, he looked to the side where Naruto was also being held up by the scruff of his jumpsuit and was intently watching Sasuke's interaction with the Sound shinobi.

Sasuke smirked. "Hey, Dobe? he asked, playful arrogance evident in his voice.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise at the Uchiha's smirk and tone, wondering how Sasuke's mood had changed so fast. He quickly realized Sasuke had made his decision, Sasuke had chosen which side he would fight with.

Naruto put on a mischevious smile and asked in the same playful arrogance that Sasuke had "Yeah Teme?".

"We have some butt to kick and a teammate to protect." Sasuke answered as he kicked the stomach of the nin holding him, thus managing to get loose and jump away, landing in a defensive crouch a few feet away from the two stunned looking Sound ninja he was nearby before.

Sasuke heard Naruto land a few inches behind him and felt his back lean against his while the blonde whispered "What do we do?"

Sasuke looked at the four Sound shinobi that had now assumed taijutsu battle stanced and surrounded the two crouching leaf genin. "I do not think they will use ninjutsu or genjutsu since they are concealing their chakra in order to prevent alerting others of their presence, but even without ninjutsu or genjutsu, they are easily a Jounin level and outmatch us as well as outnumber us." Sasuke paused to stop for a while before continuing "I think that our only option would be to distract them long enough for one of us to get Sakura to safety and call for help, or for someone to notice the disruption.

Naruto nodded, the opponents did look a lot stronger than the pair of genin and the speed in which they had struck Sakura and restrained them was amazing. 'Well, at least one of us will survive.' Naruto thought as he prepared to summon his kage bunshi.

Seeing Naruto prepare to start the fight , Sasuke hurriedly whispered "Naruto wait!" causing the blonde ninja to look his way questioningly.

"Huh?" Naruto asked

"Open my pack and pass me the hiate inside." Sasuke stated, taking his pack off to allow Naruto to quickly search though it.

Naruto smiled, understanding what Sasuke meant and he quickly rummaged through his pack until he found it and passed it to Sasuke.

Nodding his thanks, Sasuke threw his pack out of the way and put on hiate, the symbol that indicated that he was a shinobi, loyal to Konoha

Standing up and assuming the Uchiha style's taijutsu stand and activating his two pronged sharingan he stated "Now, we can go."

Four poofs were heard as Naruto performed the kage bunshin no jutsu, when the smoke cleared three other Narutos were standing by the two original genin.

Grinning, Naruto launched at one opponent along with Sasuke while his three clones set off to distract the other three Sound shinobi.

Sasuke was dodging a punch when he caught a glimpse of orange, sneaking amidst the trees and bushes and towards where Sakura was. Sasuke smirked as he suddenly realized that Naruto had summoned four, not three kage bunshins (shadow clones) and was using them as a distraction while the real Naruto went to grab Sakura.

Sasuke continued dodging incoming blows from the four Sound-nin who by now had dispelled the other three clones and were engaged in a four versus two taijutsu battle with the genin when his eyes widened in shock as he realized that a particularly strong punch was directed towards the last Naruto clone, who had left the attacking to Sasuke and until now had dodged all the hits.

'If he gets hit our plan will be ruined!' Sasuke thought and did the only thing he could: jumped in front of Naruto and received the punch himself. The punch pounded him down to the floor... hard.

Sasuke winced as he stood up, he hurt his right ankle from the landing of the punch but he had to keep going, he straightened up and began going through hand seals.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!" he yelled as he brought his right hand up to his mouth and blew out a large ball of fire towards the sound shinobi, causing them to have to stop their current assault on Naruto and jump out of the way to dodge it.

Sasuke sighed, if they had kept attacking Naruto, he was sure to get hit and the clone would disappear. When a poof was heard, Sasuke grew cold with dread as he saw that the clone had been hit with by the fireball attack and had disappeared into a cloud of smoke from the burn.

Unable to think of anything else, Sasuke withdrew four kunai and launched them towards the enemy 'If I keep them busy maybe they won't notice Naruto's gone' Sasuke hoped.

He however had no such luck, all of the sound-nins easily caught the kunais between their fingers and the one with the icy voice who had spoken first spoke again "It is time to stop playing. Come from behind the tree brat." she said looking over to where Naruto was currently hiding.

Naruto sighed, it seemed they had seen through the plan even before Sasuke had accidentally dispelled his last clone.

'Well, only one thing left to do.' Naruto thought as he slowly walked around the tree, fixing his gaze on the kunoichi with the icy voice, Naruto launched to rush her, smirking at everyones shocked expressions.

Naruto's eyes widened when the targeted ninja suddenly disappeared, then he felt a sharp pain on his side, where the shinobi had reappeared and punched him down.

"Agh! I think he broke one of my ribs!" Naruto cursed under his breath as he broke his fall with a roll. Naruto stood back up in a defensive stance with a little help from Sasuke who had ran over to make sure that he wasn't attacked while he was down.

"Naruto, next time we both go at her at the same time, maybe we will be able to land a hit that way" Sasuke whispered softly so the enemy would not heart them.

Naruto nodded but then asked in an equally low voice "What about the other three?" tilting his head where the other sound nin where standing.

The nin with the icy voice stared at them in what seemed to be sick amusement before saying "Jirouchou, Kidoumaru, Sakon. Go on ahead and prepare the container and the seals, we will be there shortly."

"Alright, but do not wakes us wait too long Tayuya." warned the largest of the Sound shinobi before he disappeared into the darkness along with the other two.

Naruto decided that this was the best time to attack since Tayuya seemed to have left her guard down. "Let's go!" he growled to Sasuke who nodded back.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto muttered and ten bunshins poofed into existence.

"Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu!" Sasuke jumped in front of the recently-made clones and let loose the ball fire.

"Tch. Old tricks will not beat me." Tayuya said jumping out of the way to the side of the fireball with ease. Tayuya turned back to face Sasuke and the Narutos who were now running towards him when she felt a blow hit his back, wincing at the unexpected pain she turned back to see a badly burned Naruto preparing to kick her and strike again.

"Ah, I stand corrected, that was quite ingenious. However it sitll won't work" Tayuya said condescendingly as she grabbed Naruto's leg and spinning it around using the force of the kick as impulse he threw Naruto towards Sasuke and the clones.

Most of the clones managed to dodge Naruto's flying body but three were not fast enough and were hit, dispelling them. Those clones that managed to dodge charged at Tayuya and attacked.

Instead of dodging, Sasuke went towards Naruto trying to stand firm and catch him but with the great force with which Naruto hit him, his right ankle gave way and they were both sent flying a couple of yards away.

"Thanks." Naruto groaned as he got up , breathing heavily.

"Hn." Responded Sasuke also getting up and testing out his ankle by putting some weight on it.

"Let's go" Naruto said between breaths and he prepared to charge Tayuya who was dodging the clones' attacks.

At the sight of the clones' fight Naruto growled "She's just toying with us!"

Sasuke shot Naruto a quick glare. "It's expected dobe, our job is to distract not defeat."

"Yeah, but she shot our last plan down before I even touched Sakura! And she's engaging us both at the the same time so we can't just sneak away like last time... Do you have any plans, teme?"

"Just keep fighting, then when you get a chance, get Sakura and go for help." Sasuke stated simply.

Naruto's eyes widened at what Sasuke implied, "No you go! I'll stay and fight!" he protested.

"Naruto, this is the only way we can save Sakura, with my injured ankle I cannot run as fast nor as long as you." Sasuke grudingly admitted, then smirked "Besides, it is not like I will die or be taken, I can hold my ground until help arrives! Or have you forgotten that I am the rookie of the year, unlike you who the dead last?"

Naruto tightened his fist as he looked down, a sad expression covered his face. 'He's right, there's nothing else we can do.. but...' he quickly shook the thoughts of death and kidnapping away replacing the sad face with a fake smile and said "Fine, Let's go!".

Together, the boys launched at Tayuya who quickly dispelled the clones she was toying with and focused on the incoming attacked.

As Naruto dropped behind to give Sasuke space, Sasuke threw a quick succession of punches, all of them got blocked but the plan worked since Tayuya seemed to have forgotten about Naruto.

'Now is my change!' Naruto thought and got ready to launch in when he was interrupted by the sight of Sasuke being thrown high up in the air.

Naruto's face turned pale thinking 'if he falls from that height he will surely die!'. Preparing to jump to catch the falling Sasuke he did not notice that Tayuya was now heading towards him and received a strong punch to the stomach. 'I have to catch him' Naruto mentally yelled in frustration as he put his hand in a familiar seal and yelled "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" (Shadow Clone jutsu)

Two Narutos appeared and ran towards Sasuke at the fastest speed they could manage, getting there just in time to catch him they carried him back to where Naruto was now crouching recovering from the latest attack before dispelling themselves away.

"Stay here and recover while I distract her." muttered Naruto as he saw Sasuke's bruised and battered body jumping back into battle so fast that he did not give Sasuke time to protest against the action.

Naruto's punches were light but in a quick succession so that even one of them had a greater chance to hit, but even then none of them did. Cursing under his breath, Naruto tried the last trick he had up his sleeve... literally.

Naruto took out a kunai that had been hidden up his sleeve and while faking a punch he threw it, straight towards Tayuya's unprotected forehead, however the Sound shinobi noticed and managed to move her head in time so that the kunai did not strike fatally but only graze her cheek instead,

Naruto took advanage of the distraction the kunai had provided to kick Tayuya in the stomach and was prepared to do so again when Tayuya grabbed him and once again threw him across the clearing, opposite from where Sasuke was.

"Well kiddies, it has been fun but the time for play is now really over. If you two would please follow me." Tayuya said dusting herself off and walking towards where Sakura lay.

As Tayuya reached Sakura and stood over her, Sasuke screamed "Leave Sakura alone or..."

"Or what? You'll kill me?" Tayuya interrupted Sasuke with a sneer as she ducked down and picked Sakura up.

Sasuke froze; Tayuya was right. He did not have much chakra left, his whole body was covered in bruises, his right ankle hurt excruciatingly and he was pretty sure he had one if not more ribs broken.

Across from him, Naruto, who was more or less in the same state as Sasuke, was staring at Tayuya in horror as the Sound shinobi struck a kunai through her dress and pinned it onto the trunk of the tree, causing her to hang limply before turning to the two boys, no doubt to continue her tormenting.

Naruto and Sasuke's eyes slowly met and a silent conversation occurred at the end of which they both nodded and turned back to Tayuya.

'It is the only way' they both thought and commenced their charge.

A/N:Alright, again I apologize for the Tayuya confusion again for those who read this before it was updated, it should be fixed now but if you do notice I refer to her as a "him" please tell me where and I'll fix it.

Responses!

Simsen - Thank you so much for your review it made me laugh ^_^ you deserve two cookies! *gives them to you*. Sorry about the cliffhanger... but let's call it insurance to make sure you'll come back again


	4. Sensei Arrives!

**Chapter Four**

**Tayuya's Disclaimer**: If Sandtalon owned Naruto I would be a man... something I am **NOT**!

**Sand: **Sheesh.. I already said sorry. Anyway readers.. I fixed Tayuya, she is now a she as she should be.

**Tayuya: **Hmph... can't believ that happened.

------

Kakashi crouched on a branch, watching the scene below where his three students talked (or shouted in Naruto's case). He could see Sasuke's hesitation growing as the conversation went on and hoped Naruto and Sakura could convince him to stay.

If the young shinobi refused to listen and insisted on leaving, Kakashi would have no choice but to stop him by force and report the incident to the Hokage. That would do nothing to help Sasuke, in fact it would ruin him. Sasuke had to decide for himself that he wanted to stay, if not he would try to leave again.

Suddenly, Kakashi felt the faint chakra of four people heading towards the road his students were talking in.

'I don't recognize their chakra signatures' Kakashi mused thoughtfully 'If they're working so hard on concealing their chakra, they must not want to attract the attention of the village's shinobi. If they were ninjas from visiting nations coming on a peace mission then they would have no need to conceal it.'

Realization struck Kakashi as his gaze settled on Sasuke 'They must be ninja from the Sound sent by Orochimaru to get Sasuke'

Kakashi narrowed his eyes as the chakra signatures came closer and closer but his students seemed oblivious to them. Kakashi jumped away from the branch he was currently crouched on and landed in another tree, closer to the road and his students. Shuriken out. Kakashi crouched into a waiting pose, ready to jump out and able to join his students if his presence was needed.

The faint chakra signatures finally stopped their movement and an icy voice came from the shadows surprising Kakashi's three students.

Kakashi noted the Sound headbands that the four shinobi wore as they walked out from the shadows of the trees and stood behind Sasuke which grimly confirmed the assumption that they were the shinobi that Orochimaru had sent for.

Kakashi carefully tried to predict the skill level of each of the Sound ninja, by how they concealed their chakra, the visible weapons they carried, and their demeanor. Even at this superficial level of scrutinization he could tell that his three students were no match for the sound nin, especially if Sasuke stayed out of the fighting and only Naruto and Sakura fought.

Kakashi's turned his gaze to where Sasuke stood, it was the last chance the prodigy had to turn back, if he didn't now Kakashi would have to step in and take things into his own hands. The outcome would not be a happy one for those involved.

He silently watched as his student glanced back at the Sound shinobi and then mutter something he was not able hear to the Sound shinobi behind him, he seemed tense, unsure of what to do.

The Sound shinobi seemed amused at whatever Sasuke had muttered and started taunting his students. Suddenly, the one who had first spoken launched himself at Sakura, fist extended.

Kakashi fought the urge to interfere, the blow would hurt her, not kill her, and as much as he hated it the best and possibly the only way to get Sasuke to change his mindset is to see those who are precious to him, even though he claims they are not, get hurt for him.

Kakashi of course would not let it go too far, if he saw the slightest possibility of a major injury happening to any of his students he would stop the fight that he was sure would soon start.

Kakashi's hope soared as he saw Sasuke and Naruto exchange some playful banter and manage to jump away from the ninjas who had been restraining them while their teammate struck Sakura, landing back to back in order to defend each other from the enemies who were surrounding them, walking around them as wolves circle each other before a striking.

'It seems Sasuke has made his decision' Kakashi thought watching as the prodigy put on his forehead protector ' Even so, a shinobi gains confidence that his decision is right through battle, if he doesn't fight for his decision now then he will most likely change his mind later, when the shock of Sakura getting hurt ebbs away.'

Kakashi changed his gaze to Naruto, who was now disappearing into the shadow of the trees under the cover of the smoke that his kage bunshins (shadow clones) had made. 'This fight will also help Naruto regain his trust of Sasuke' he mentally added.

Kakashi continued watching the battle and by seeing Sasuke attack with more determination with each attack and Naruto feeling more and more confident in fighting alongside Sasuke assured him he had made the right decision.

'In fact, Sasuke and Naruto's team work seem better than...' Kakashi's thought was interrupted as Sasuke's Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu (grand fireball jutsu) burnt Naruto's last Kage Bunshin (shadow clone) and caused it disappear, foiling their plan. 'So maybe their teamwork still needs work' Kakashi sweat dropped.

Kakashi restrained himself once again from jumping into the fight as the woman who had first spoken, spoke again while easily catching the kunai thrown at him telling the boys that the time for games was over. Kakashi could tell that the Sound-nin was lying, trying to goad the boys- specifically Sasuke- into an angry rage, he allowed himself a small smile when he noted that the seal he had placed was holding against the curse mark.

'Alright, this has gone long enough' Kakashi decides and was about to jump in when the one with the cold voice addressed his three teammates "Jirochou, Kidoumaru, Sakon: Go ahead and prepare the container and the seals, we will be there soon."

Narrowing his eyes Kakashi stopped his motions to jump in and instead took out a pad and pencil to write down the four names as well as the words 'seals' and 'container' putting the pad away he returned the gaze back to the battle, the three other ninja had already left and Sasuke and Naruto were continuing their onslaught.

He smirked at how the genin surprised the ninja who he now knew as Tayuya when Naruto jumped out of the flames of Sasuke's jutsu and again when Naruto flung the kunai he had hidden in his sleeve. 'He's not called Konoha's number one knucklehead and unpredictable ninja for nothing' Kakashi thought watching the scene.

Kakashi's visible eye widened a bit as Tayuya walked towards Sakura and pinned her to the tree, turning back to taunt the boys once again. Kakashi's eye finished widening when he saw that after struggling to stand up the two boys struck stances that were all too familiar to Kakashi and begun their charge.

'I've let this go too far!' Kakashi thought alarmingly as he too dove towards where Tayuya was standing.

--

Naruto raced forward, rasengan forming on the palm of the arm he thrust forward, clinging on to the hope that it would not lose strength and ebb away due to the lack of the second clone and the limited chakra he had left.

Naruto snarled as a pessimist thought intruded his mind and he fixed hi gaze on Sakura, who was hanging behind Tayuya. 'It is the only way' he thought and pumped out as much chakra as he could into the palm of his hand

Across from Naruto, Sasuke also raced with his arm extended, only that his had electricity running through it, forming the chidori. Sasuke wanted to collapse and to lose conscience right there and then, but he couldn't for Sakura's fate, instead he increased his speed, ignoring his throbbing ankle and pumped as much chakra as he could into his arm, leaving so little unused that he would probably pass out after the attack.

Lifting the arm that wielded the chidori slightly, he aimed towards the center of Tayuya's chest, a definite kill shot if it hit. 'It is the only way' he thought, willing himself to run faster.

The two attacking boy's eyes widened when Tayuya smirked evilly and disappeared into thin air, leaving the boys charging towards a helpless Sakura with their most powerful attacks.... again

"Gah! Sakura wake up!" Naruto pleaded as he tried to stop his attack to no avail. 'This can't be! Not again!' he thought remembering the fight he and Sasuke had had on the hospital roof.

"Sakura!" Sasuke yelled at the ever-nearing body of his teammate. She had to wake up, she had to.. 'This is not the end, it couldn't be.... could it?' Sasuke thought unable to do anything else.

To their horror Sakura did not stir to their frantic screams, she did not even give any indication that she had heard them in her sleeping state.

Closing their eyes in resignation once again they prepared for the moment in which the attacks would touch the tender skin of their teammate

Seconds passed as if they were endless hours, and the boys wished time went fasater as they hard the maniacal laughing of Tayuya behind them, obviously taking pleasure of the scene hew as witnessing.

Suddenly, in the final moments before the two attacks struck, both Sasuke and Naruto felt a familiar globed-hand grip their wrists and stop their assault.

Opening their shocked yes in a mixture of relief and shock they saw their sensei, who was glaring at straight towards the general direction they had come from and where they presumed Tayuya was standing. For a split second they hung motionless in midair only being held up by the wrists of their sensei before they were thrown to opposite sides once again, though this time, not as hard as the first time it had happened.

Sasuke was thrown into a tree branch and managed to get himself into a hanging position so he wouldn't fall before calmness washed into his body and he let sleep take ahold.

Naruto's landing was broken by some bushes but he did not have enough strength to disentangle himself from the many small branches that tore through his clothes and poked into his skin uncomfortably, instead he just turned his head towards the direction he was thrown from. Naruto managed to give a weak smile as he saw Kakashi start to attack the Sound nin before he gave into the sleep that was sweetly calling him.

--------

Kakashi glared at Tayuya as he _lightly_ threw his students out of the way.

"Where did you come from?!" Tayuya asked, eyes widened in shock as she got into a taijutsu stance, ready to face Kakashi.

Kakashi's visible eye narrowed at the stance the Sound-nin adapted to, thinking amazedly 'Does he honestly think he can beat me by only using taijutsu?'

Shrugging the question off he instead started making handsigns and casually answered the enemy shinobi "I was always here."

With blinding speed Kakashi ran towards the unsuspecting ninja, stopping two feet in front of him before announcing "Katon: Ryuuka no jutsu!" (Dragon flame jutsu) and sending a stream of flame directly towards the Tayuya.

Tayuya moved to dodge the incoming flame but it was too fast and caught most of his body. 'I can't beat this guy on taijutsu alone, but if I use my ninjutsu, my chakra will alarm the other shinobi!' Tayuya snarled as she got into a defensive stance and looked around for Kakashi

Kakashi however was nowhere to be seen. Tayuya looked around, wondering how to block the attack that was sure to come. She stopped when he saw Sakura hanging on the tree and started to make his way towards her. If she was able to grab her Kakashi would not be able to attack her and she would have a chance to escape, maybe even grab Sasuke in the process.

The Sound shinobi was three feet away from Sakura when a voice came out of nowhere: "Shinjuu Zanshu no jutsu!" (Headhunter jutsu) and a gloved hand broke through the ground, gripped Tayuya's ankle and brought her down underground so only her neck and head remained visible.

"What is.." Tayuya's outraged cry was silenced when Kakashi bent down behind her and pressed a pressure point on her neck, causing the sound-nin's head to fall on the floor limply.

Kakashi straightened up and started forming hand seals with blinding speed, when he was done he bit his thub and slammed his hand down on the ground, announcing "Kuchiyose no jutsu" (summoning jutsu)

A poof was heard as smoke gathered and slowly dispersed, leaving a small dog that was sitting on the floor looking up at Kakashi.

"Pakkun reporting for duty!" the small dog announced before scrunching his nose up and looking around.

Seeing Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura's unconscious bodies as well as Tayuya's unconscious head, he snapped his head towards Kakashi and alarmingly asked "What happened?!"

Kakashi shook his head "no time to explain. Find an ANBU squad an tell them a Sound shinobi's unconscious body is restrained here, then go to the Godaime and tell her my students are in the hospital and I need to talk to her urgently".

"Hai!" The small dog barked and ran down the road and towards the heart of the village in an unbelievable speed.

Kakashi checked that Tayuya was indeed unconscious and restrained well enough so that even if she woke up she would not be able escape before gathering his students and speeding towards the hospital.

As Kakashi barged in the hospital the attending nurses and medic-nins surrounded him taking his students away and shouting out alarms and codes.

Not long after the nurses and medic-nins had taken his students into different rooms, a frowning Tsunade rushed into the hospital with a fretting Shizune and guard of ANBU trailing behind.

"Where are they?" Tsunade demanded stopping in front of Kakasih, who mutely gestured at the three doors.

"Alright, I want two ANBU standing guard in each room" Tsunade ordered. At the order, the ANBU looked at each other as if unsure of what to do so Tsunade raising an inquisitive eyebrow asked "What's wrong?"

The ANBU with the panther mask who bore the white cowl signifying she was the squad's captain turned to look at Kakashi then deciding it was not a problem to speak in front of him cleared her throat lightly before explaining in a hushed tone "Well Godaime-Sama, we're one of the two ANBU squads currently in the village, our current duty is to protect you against all danger, the other ANBU squad is currently searching for the Sound Shinobi" she gestured to Kakashi "that Kakashi-senpai has restrained so if we were to leave, you would lose all your protection detail, something that should not happen in case there are more Sound shinobi around." Panther finished.

The Hokage's eyebrow twitched irritably and evidently trying to control her volume and tone she said "If there were other Sound-nin still in the village and they manage to remain hidden from the ninja patrols out right now, then they would head to the three young genin's rooms over there, particulary Sasuke's in order to try to abduct him once again." the Hokage's volume was rising as she said "and even IF they were to come to attack me, I would be able to take care of them easilly, I AM a Sannin after all and do not require _babysitting_" she spat out the last word with disgust.

Panther's posture made it evident that she still had some fight in her but at the Hokage's raised eyebrow, Kakashi made some covert hand signs for Panther to stop. Panther seemed to understand his message because she paused before nodding and saying "Hai, Hokage-Sama. My apologies." and turning to her team to issue hushed orders.

Kakashi watched the ANBU split into pairs and each pair head into one of the rooms where his students were before turning back to the Hokage who was also watching as the ANBU walked away.

Turning back to Kakashi, Tsunade questioned "How severe are their injuries?"

Kakashi took a second before answering "Sasuke is pretty bruised, probably a broken rib or two, his most visible injury is in his right ankle. Naruto is also very bruised and also may have some broken ribs, he was burned, not too badly but enough that he was in pain for the rest of the battle. Sakura was just hit and knocked out when she hit her head against a tree that she was knocked into." Kakashi paused, narrowed his eyes before continuing "Sasuke and Naruto both seem to have fainted due to extreme chakra exhaustion."

Tsunade nodded as she processed the information before turning to the still frantic Shizune and saying "Go alert the attending medic-nins and nurses of this."

Nodding, Shizune turned on her heels and headed into the room where Sasuke was currently being treated.

As soon as Shizune left the hospital lobby Tsunade took a quick look around to make sure she and Kakashi were alone before turning to him and sking in a low voice "What about the curse mark and the Kyuubi? Did they affect them in a way?"

"No, they did not make any active appearances" Kakashi shook his head.

Relief rushed Tsunade's expression at the news and she announced "good, I'm going to go help treat them. When the ANBU come with the prisoner tell them to take her to Ibiki"

"Tsunade-sama, there are three other Sound nins waiting for her and Sasuke outside of the village" Kakashi invormed the Hokage as she walked towards the nearest room.

Tsunade stopped in her tracks and turnedf her head to look back at Kakashi before saying "In taht case, send one guard with the prisoner to Ibiki and take the rest of the squad to hunt those shinobi down, I'm sure they won't have any problems about you being in command."

Kakashi narrowed his eye, he wanted to stay and make sure his students were alright, but he was the only one who knew who to look for. Besides, if the Sound shinobi did escape then they would no doubt try to get Sasuke again.

"Kakashi." Tsunade's soft voice broke him out of his train of thought. " I will alert you as soon as their conditions change and I promise I won't let anything happen to the three brats" The Godaime promised.

"Hai Godaime-Sama" Kakashi said thankfully as he quickly bowed and left the hospital to search for the ANBU squad who was escorting the prisoner.

-----

Kakashi raised his hand to signal the ANBU team to stop, standing on a thick branch and sniffing the air.

"What is it Kakashi-senpai?" the ANBU with the bear mask asked from behind him.

Momentarilly ignoring the question Kakashi turned to Pakkun who sttod next to him and asked "Do you smell that?"

The small dog raised his nose and slowly took in a deep breath. Narrowing his eyes Pakkun answered "Yeah, I smell it."

"Senpai?" Bear tentatively asked again, curious of what the two were talking about.

TUrning ot him and the rest of the team Kakashi explained "The remaining three Sound shinobi seem to have felt our chakra coming near them and have split up."

The one in the eagle mask nodded while saying "That explains the container we found back in the woods near the village, they probably did not have time to clean up after themselves and have now split up to confuse us. We should have taken a more covert approach, concealing our chakra, instead of rushing and using it to go faster.. but without knowing their pace we could have lost them.."

Kakashi nodded and looked at his team, trying to formulate a plan. There were four of them (not including Pakkun) since one had stayed in the village with the rookie TAyuya and another guarding the abandoned container back where they had come from. Kakashi closed his eyes, re-checking the details of his newly-made plan before biting his thumb and performing the kuvhiyose no jutsu (summoning jutsu) to summon Bull, the large bulldog.

"Bull reporting for duty!" the bulldog growled in a strong deep voice while his eyes scanned their surroundings and his ears twitched straining to hear anything that did not belong .

"Calm down, I didn't summon you into combat. I need you to track someone for him, talk to Pakkun to find out which scent." Kakashi explained gesturing at the small dog beside him

"Hey Bull, follow me" Pakkun barked at the larger dog and jumped away to another branch so they wouldn't disturb Kakashi as he explained his plan to the the squad, they would be able to hear it from far away anyway.

Kakashi waited until Bull followed Pakkun before returning his attention to the human part of the team and saying "Alright, listen up. The Sound-nin have split up, most likely to confuse and/or delay us, so we'll split up/"

Kakashi tilted his head to the west "Bear, you will go with Bull and follow the ninja who went to the west."

"Hai." Bear responded with a nod.

Kakashi then turned towards Raccoon and gestured towards the opposite direction "Raccoon, you go with Pakkun and search for the one who went to east."

"Hai Kakashi-senpai" Raccoon acknowledged turning away from the rest of the team and re-checking their surroundings to make sure they were alone.

Turning to the last member of the team Kakashi said "With my heightened sense of smell, I wll follow the last nin who kept going inthe current path" Kakashi paused to take a breath before continuing "Eagle, you are at the moment the fastest one of us, I need you to head back to Konoha and update the Hokage of our situation, also I need you to request some reinforcements if possible."

Eagle silently nodded his assent as he moved over to give the returning dogs space to stand.

Kakashi quickly looked over his team before saying "The shinobi seem to be a low-jounin level and you should be able to take care of them easily, however judge them for yourselves, if you can't fight them and win then just shadow them. If you engage them then aim to take them back to Konoha alive, kill them only as a last resort. Any quesitons?" Kakashi paused.

"Kakashi-senpai, how far should we follow them?" Bear asked.

Kakashi narrowed his eye in thought 'Konoha is vulnerable with its ninja population either out of commission or in missions, we have to be ready to head back at a moment's notice.'

Kakashi sighed and answered "We don't have the necessary equipment to stay overnight and we are needed in Konoha so limit yourself to a distance where you know you can get to Konoha in a short time."

Nodding the ANBU and nin-dogs crouched, getting ready to jump away at teh order.

"Scatter!" Kakashi's stern command came and the branch that had been bending almost to the point of breaking snapped up to its original position, with four new sets of footprints and two sets of four awkward claw marks that are not usually found on the high branches of trees.

**A/N: **Sorry for the longer update time, but as you can see this chapter is almost half of all the others put together.. and it took me a long time to write.. granted the end is a bit of a filler *sweatdrop* Sorry, I'll make up something cool to go with this part of the story.. hopefully.

As you saw Tayuya was made a she again, if you notice parts I refer to her as a "him" please point them out so I can see them. Also.. 3 reviews, 4 alerts, 4 favorites, 2 favorite authors (because of this story I think), and 202 hits.. Woot! Also hit 11k words total with this chapter ^_^

**Responses:**

**Simsen**: *sweatdrop* Yeah... sorry about Tayuya, and I agree Yay for reviewers! *gives a headband shaped cookie*

**Angel:** Updated :) Glad you liked it. *gives a kunai shaped cookie*

**Primus:** *previous sweatdrop grows* Yeah, thanks lol I forgot while I was writing it but it all should be fixed now :). *gives a shuriken shaped cookie*

Ninja themed cookies for a ninja story :)


	5. Hunting The Shinobi

**Disclaimer**: If I WAS the owner of Naruto.... this would have been the first update since November and I wouldn't be craving to try real Ramen *sweatdrop*

**Chapter Five**

* * *

Tsunade looked down at the mountains of paperwork that cluttered her desk. In front of her desk she could feel the recently-arrived ANBU's burning gaze focused on her, and his struggle to keep quiet.

"What is it Eagle?" She asked looking up to at the masked ninja who was standing stiffly at attention.

"Hokage-sama, even if our enemy are low jounin level and we are ANBU, we should not underestimate them.... it is possible that the hunting team may encounter unexpected resistance and require immediate back up."

The Godaime's eyes flashed with wrath and she punched down on the single spot of her desk that was not covered in papers, causing a deafening crack and sending papers flying all over the room as the poor wooden table broke.

"Do you think I don't know that!?" Tsunade menacingly snarled standing up, "Do you think I don't know that the Sound shinobi will have probably received a special 'gift' from Orochimaru, just like Sasuke and Anko!? I do know that! I know they will probably get away or will use their so called gift to injure or kill my shinobi!"

Surprised and terrified of the Hokage's screaming and the destruction of the table, Eagle bowed down as low as he could, waiting for the Hokage to finish before saying "Please forgive me Hokage-sama, I was out of bounds".

The firey wrath melted away from the Godaime's eyes and she felll back into her chair.

"Stand up Eagle" the Godaime said softly looking down at the paperwork once again before looking back up and staring at the porcelain mask/

Sighing she brought her hands up to the pressure points on her fore head and massaged them "I know you're worried for your team, if you weren't then Kakashi would have been a lousy captain." Tsunade said, allowing a small smile to form as she thought of the gray-haired joinin's feelings about teamwork.

The smile disappeared however with her next words "There is just no shinobi we can spare at the moment, most of the Chuunin , Jounin and ANBU are out in missions and those that aren't must stay in case another village decides that this is the best time to attack us."

Tsunade picked up a folder on her desk that contained pictures and information about Team Seven before adding "and after what they did to these three by just playing around... I don't dare send any genin."

Eagle looked down at the Hokage, she was right, there weren't even enough jounin to review the results of the Chuunin exams and help decide who to promote.

"I understand Hokage-sama, though I would like to request permission to go back out into the field and help out the hunting team ".

Tsunade nodded at Eagle and ordered "Gp, and when you meet up with them warn them not to do anything too hazardous, their lives are more important than capturing Orochimaru's followers, also alert Kakashi that we will keep his team under guard and that Ibiki will continue interrogating the one he captured in hopes of getting more information."

"Hai." Eagle nodded before disappearing in a wisp of smoke.

* * *

Kakashi crouched low, hidden in the cover of tree's leaves, he carefully watched as the rather large Sound-nin stopped in the clearing below in order to rest a little while and was currently drinking water from his canteen.

Kakashi blinked in surprise, the shinobi seemed to have dropped his guard and in the current position he was in Kakashi could strike and restrain the ninja easily.

'This is too easy... these are Orochimaru's shinobi, he wouldn't send carless ninja that dropped their guard so fast' Kakashi thought as he remembered one of his favorite quotes and his visible eye scanned the shinobi and his surroundings searching for any hidden traps.

Within thirty seconds Kakashi had found a kunai sticking to the ninja's shoe by means of chakra and another between the canteen and his fingers,

'He's baiting whoever might be following him to attack him by appearing unguarded and vulnerable' Kakashi realized as he noticed how the Sound ninja's eyes were scanning their surroundings as if h was searching for something... or most likely someone.

Kakashi stayed hidden behind the leaves, motionless, so he didn't risk being discovered by the probing eyes. Any other time he would have attacked, but this time most of his chakra was drained and he had still not fully recovered from the injuries he sustained during the Chuunin exams and the events with Itachi later, and to top it all off he had not slept in twenty-four hours due to the S-ranked mission he had had to take right after placing the seals in his genin's homes. No, Kakashi was definitely not going to injure himself further or let the Sound-nin get away due to his exhausted state.

Below, the Sound-nin put his canteen away, seemingly satisfied enough that no one was following to continue his journey at a more leisurely pace than before.

Kakashi followed at a safe distance behind, grateful for the slower pace that would put less strain on his body and lower the amount of revenge he knew it was planning to invoke on him tomorrow. (A/N: Soreness)

Kakashi paused in a branch and made a small cut in the trunk of the tree, barely visible or noticeable, and poked his finger with the kunai so his skin let out a drop of wall which he pressed into the trunk, right over the small cut he had made.

To any civilian or foreign ninja the mark would go unseen or would bear no meaning, but the ANBU and some of the jounin of Konoha knew that it was a form of marking the path that you had travelled by so that any reinforcements could track you down and find you. Kakashi had just added the drop of blood to reassure any dog-nins or those tracking with the sense of smell that this was indeed the right way.

Resuming his shadowing where the sun was starting to come out and spread its rays over the land.

He mentally sighed and slowed down his pace, sure it was easier to track the ninja but it also meant that it would be harder to conceal himself. The shadows instead of solely hiding him could now be able to give away his position to the enemy if he wasn't careful about where and how he positioned himself.

'I need to start heading back to the village by noon' Kakashi calculated 'So if reinforcements do not arrive soon, I will be forced to make my move'.

----

Bear faced the man who was wearing a large pearl necklace and bright red lipstick. Beside Bear, Bull stood a snarl emitting from his throat while his eyes glared daggers at the enemy shinobi, who was crouching low. the Sound-shinobi's gaze calmly travelling from human to dog and dog to human every couple of seconds

"Give up now and I will try not to hurt you too much" Bear called to the shinobi, though he really didn't expect him to agree, and would still be sure to hurt him a bit even if he did, after all this guy had hurt Kakashi's genin team, and no one hurt Konoha shinobi (or citizens for that matter) and got away with it.

The shinobi sneered and straightened up meeting Bear's gaze evenly. "You shall never beat us" a freaky voice stated condescendingly.

Bull's ears twitched "What is that? the voice came form his direction but his mouth isn't moving.."

Bear nodded taking out his slender katana from its sheath "It also said 'us' , not me. Can you smell anyone else hiding in the trees behind him?" he asked in a quiet whisper.

Bull tentatively sniffed the air but then shook his head "No, it's just him but..." Bull paused and sniffed the air again as if rechecking something "but there's something weird about the way he smells, as if his body has two different odors instead of one"

Bear grunted confirming that he had heard but said nothing, just wielded his katana in a defensive stance and waited for the enemy shinobi to make his move first.

The three combatants stayed frozen in their spots for a few minutes before the Sound shinobi spoke again, this time with a different voice, one that seemed normal and he actually moved his lips to speak this time "IF you leave now, we shall spare your life.... maybe."

Bear carefully kept any emotion out of his voice when he responded with a simple "Then we shall fight" and raised his katana a little, into a slightly more aggressive position. Though inside thoughts of uncertainty spun around his mind 'He's either bluffing, or extremely powerful... but either way I must fight'.

"Whatever, it's your slow and painful death." the freaky voice responded as the Sound shinobi shrugged before flinging some shuriken at Bear and following them with a charge.

Bear calmly knocked all of the shuriken off their course with his katana and watched as the shinobi ran towards him, getting closer and closer as time went by. His instincts shouted at him to either raise his katana again and prepare to strike, or to jump away from the incoming danger, but he blcked them out, a ninja shouldn't reveal his hand first and jumping away now would give his opponent enough time to change his course; so Bear just stood, his Katana lowered into a defensive position and waited for the shinobi to get closer.

Just as the Sound-nin extended his hands as if to grab him, Bear sidestepped out of the way, causing the other shinobi to continue running a few steps before he lost his balance and stumbled down landing on his face.

Bears eyes rested on the Sound-nin's back where a lump that was covered in what seemed to be blonde hair stood out,

"What is that??" Bear whispered as he took a step forward to examine it further.

"It lokes like a... head" Bull growled an answer from beside him.

The sound-nin began to chuckle as he stood back up and turned around to gace the Konoha pair. "That" he said pointing to the lump on his back "is my older brother."

'What??' Bear thought to himself, confused, then he felt a tugging on his shirt. He looked down to see Bull biting his shirt and pulling it. Bear tilted his head a little to the side asking a silent question to the bulldog.

Bull answered this question just as silently, by pointing his ears towards the trees behind him and pulling the shirt in that direction.

Bear nodded in understanding and turned his full attention on the Sound shinobi who was grinning evilly, he seemed to have not noticed their silent conversation.

Bear reached into his weapons pouch as if to get a kunai or a shuriken which sent the Sound-nin into a defensive crouch but instead grabbed a pair of super-strong smoke bombs.

Throwing the bombs down Bear and Bull took advantage of the other shinobi's visual impairment and confusion to retreat to one of the high branches of one of the trees which Bull had indicated.

"What do you think?" Bear whispered to Bull.

Narrowing his eyes in thought Bull sniffed the air around him then barked "The ninja has a weird scent because,,, it's two scents in one body. I think that bulk sticking out of his back is really a head... his brother's?

Eagle processed the information and glanced down at the clearing where the Sound-nin was still being covered by the cloud of smoke.

"So that means they somehow share the same body Well it would explain why he has to different voices... How will this affect his fighting style?" Bear said quietly, still watching the smoke below.

"So what's the plan?" Bull asked as Bear turned back to face him.

"You stay concealed while I confront the ninja; observe his fighting style and look out for anything I can miss. Jump into the battle only if I need help, or you see the perfect opportunity to take him out."

"Hai. Should I alert Kakashi and Pakkun of our presence? It won't be silent" Bull barked out before Bear could jump back down.

Bear paused before jumping and hesitated before answering "Go ahead, be careful tht he isn't able to pinpoint your location though."

Bear jumped down to the clearing where the smoke still lingered covering his opponent (and most of the clearing for that matter) completely. Since he had used a stronger version of the ordinary bombs in order to render the Sound-nin's sight useless for as long as possible, it would still be a while before the smoke cleared out.

Bear sheathed his katana and brought his hands up into a Ram seal directing his chakra into a steady current towards his hands. Behind him , a deep howl rose into the air and lasted about five seconds before fading out and leaving the clearing in a silence which not even the morning birds disturbed.

Taking out some pieces of chakra string he put them on the floor and let his some of his chakra flow through them they started crawling outwards, as if they were some type of snake. Bear straightened back up and once again unsheathed his katana, holding it at his waist, slightly pointed upwards, and closed his eyes.

Bear stood there passively and motionless, his sense alert for any discrepancies in the chakra flow in his strings that might indicate where the Sound-nin was standing..

He continued waiting motionless as he was for a few minutes before he suddenly opened his eyes.

'There!' Bear thought and sprinted towards where one of his chakra strings' flow had encountered a different chakra.

As he expected, his katana met flesh, but before it could sink more than a few centimeters into the flesh, the katana was somehow pulled out from it and pushed away with a very strong force.

'What happened?!" Bear thought alarmingly and barely managed to jump back a few yards in time to avoid the strong punch that the Sound shinobi had thrown as a counter attack.

Laughter came from the sport where he had been a second before followed by the Sound-nin's normal voice "You're as blind as we are in this smoke, so to attack me you have to get near me and once you do, I'll be able to attack you."

Bear thought carefully about what the Sound-nin had just said, he did have a point when he said that he wouldn't be able to attack him without risking being attacked himself, this smoke also would make it hard for Bull to study the ninja's fighting style and provide him with intel throughout the fight.

Behind his porcelain mask bear smirked, it did seem that this ninja was jounin in skill, he had deflected his katana, but he was overconfident and loudmouthed, after all if you tell your opponent the flaw in their plan, how will you use it against them?

'It seems like it's time to play some games' Bear thought and started moving around the clearing in what seemed to be random directions, carefully avoiding the place where his chakra strings told him the Sound-nin was standing.

"So Orochimaru must hold you in high regard for him to send you on such an important mission."

"Yeah! I'm one of the few who are able to complete it, one of his elite guard." the boasting response came from the normal voice.

Bear smirked, this was going to be easier than he originally thought. Kneeling down he covered an explosive tag with dirt, leaving it tied to the end of a piece of chakra string while he kept holding on to the other end.

Bear commenced to circle the Sound-nin , placing more explosive tags every couple of feet, always keeping the second end of the chakra strings securely gripped in his right hand as he moved along.

"One day, when Lord Orochimaru rules the land, we of his elite guard shall be well-known, respected, and feared- even by ignorant citizens" the boastful voice came again and paused before adding " it is a pity that you will not be one of those Konoha-nins gifted to me. I guess I shall at least tell you the melody of our names! I am Sakon of the West Gate, which I guard with my older brother, Ukon."

Bear's stomach lurched at the Sound-nin's words, so those were Orochimaru's plans if he ever did take control of Fire Country, disgrace and humiliate the Konoha shinobi by 'gifting' them to his followers, most likely as slaves. "That will **never** happen" Bear stated with a steely glint in his voice.

"Well, not to you, maybe. My brother and I will make sure of that" There was a brief pause before the now taunting voice added "or maybe... we will take you now, and see what type of music you make when Orochimaru-sama plays with you."

Bear frowned behind his mask but then returned his face to a stoic expression. He couldn't let the ninja's words get to him, yes learn all he can from then, but not let them affect him emotionally, or it would affect him negatively during the fight and give the opposing nin an advantage.

Bear didn't respond to the ramblings of the Sound-nin and instead returned to his original spot after successfully encircling his opponent in explosive tags. From the looks of it the extra strong smoke bomb was finally weakening and the smoke had dispersed enough to allow him to see the Sound-nin's shadowy figure amidst it.

"Too scared to even respond? I'm not surprised, the Konoha battle spirit has been said to be weak."

'Really? Prepare yourself' Bear thought smirking behind his mask and carefully unsheathed his katana, readjusting his grip on the strings so he would not activate the tags prematurely by accident.

With one smooth action Bear brought his katana over his head , let his chakra flow into it and brought it straight down, stopping it a few inches before the blade hit the ground.

A great burst of wind came from the slash, blowing the remaining smoke away within a matter of seconds and revealing a stunned Sound-nin who shielded his face from the sharp wind with one pair of arms, and his chest with another, both with visible bleeding cuts.

"Four arms huh? Well this will be interesting" Bear muttered to himself as he charged the ninja, his katana ready to strike.

* * *

**Authors Note** I'm sorry for the long time it took to update... I thought I was going to write more during Winter Break, but I got a horrible writer's block trying to write this terrible battle scene and it frustrated me so much..  
I hope to have another update out as soon as possible but no promises... I'll write on my two hour flight though..

**Important!**(kinda): I am going to _try_ to write an omake, or a humorous excerpt of Naruto for this story since I feel it needs a little comic relief. I would like some suggestions as to what to write about though since my sense of humor doesn't seem to fit everyone else's. It does not need to fit the plot at the moment since I doubt anything can fit it.. so let's keep it pre- Four sounds,,

In other news... has anyone ever tasted real ramen?? not that 3 minute noodle cup?? How does it taste???

Reviewers you all get a response and chocolate brownies!:

Ultimus: Thank you, I went over and changed the 'hers' again.. should be good by now.

LittleFox: Thank you very much for the praise, I was trying to do something I haven't seen as of yet.

FireFox: Hehe.. I know what you mean... I think I read one book and six different fanfictions before finishing this chapter. I'll be sure to check your story out, I'm curious now.

Roma: I agree with you.. Kakashi-sensei rules :D


	6. Back Home

**Chapter Six**

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto.. then I'd know Japanese.. which is cool.. but sadly I don't.**

**A/N:** Sorry for the long time between updates! I know what I want to do after this particular arc.. but I have no idea how to get from here to there.. it is kind of irritating.

----

Kakashi leapt tree to tree, senses alert for any enemies who might be following them. Hot on his heals was Eagle, carrying the unconscious and bloodied Bear on his back , and Raccoon who was awkwardly carrying the body of a Sound-nin that seemed to have more limbs than normal. However Kakashi had no time to ponder on why that was so, he had to make sure his team made it back to Konoha alive and to do that they had to get there _fast. _So instead of distracting himself with such thoughts he relied on his training to get through, thinking about nothing except their surroundings.

"Senpai." Raccoon called to Kakashi who acknowledged her with a grunt, "I don't know how much longer I can keep this pace up."

Kakashi glanced back and saw that Raccoon and Eagle were both struggling to keep the pace up, he sighed. Nothing was going as planned.

Kakashi raised his fist gesturing to his team to stop in one of the trees and ordered "Take a break but keep your guard up." before he poofed* away to the top branch of the tree.

There it was, barely visible as a tiny dot on the horizon lay Konoha. 'It's still a long ways to go' Kakashi thought, looking down to where Bear was propped against the tree trunk , 'but he may not have too much time'

Kakashi suppressed the urge to sigh again and instead muttered "In the Nara Clan's words: This is troublesome."

The jounin turned his gaze to Raccoon and Eagle who had a short conversation before Eagle jumped away to another tree and disappeared from sight, probably making certain they weren't missing anything.

'They cannot keep this pace up and I don't blame them considering we're travelling in a pace which most Chuunin cannot even dream of reaching, Especially not while carrying Bear and the Sound-nin's corpse and their situations Raccoon is wounded from her own confrontation and Eagle tired from running to Konoha and then coming back to find us'. Kakashi furrowed his brow in thought 'I could take Bear and go alone..but I'm not really comfortable leaving Eagle and Raccoon alone when the enemy might still be following us.'

Kakashi shook the thoughts out of his head and berated himself, they weren't his Genin students that needed his protection, they were elite shinobi who could take care of themselves.

Jumping down to the lower branch where the others were he leaned down to examine Bear more closely even with pressure on his wounds to control the bleeding he had a lot of blood loss and what seemed to Kakashi's experienced eye wounds from an explosion of some sort.

"Kakashi-sempai... how is he?" Raccoon asked and made a futile effort to hide the concern in her voice.

Kakashi glanced back at the ANBU who was standing next to the Sound ninja's body, with her back to Kakashi as she faced the direction they had come from, her hand next to her weapon's pouch She was ready to spring into battle at a second's notice.

"I'm nota medic-nin, but I doubt he has long if he doesn't get medical attention soon" Kakashi answered, slowly standing up and walking towards Raccoon.

Standing next to her, he gazed into the depths of the forests and asked "Can you and Eagle handle going back to Konoha alone with the corpse?"

"Hai." Raccoon answered with a curt nod then hesitated before asking "What about you and Bear?"

"I'll go ahead with Bear, with a faster speed I might be able to get in range of Konoha within the hour."

"Sempai.. but you're still injured and as tired -if not more- than the rest of us." Raccoon exclaimed in shock, turning her gaze from the forest to Kakashi.

"Yes, but I'm the only one who **can** do it" he reasoned and met Raccoon's gaze. "Besides, I don't let my comrades die." he declared with such determination that left no room for any protests.

Behind them, Eagle landed and reported "No signs of anyone following us, nor of any ambushes ahead."

"Good." Kakashi responded with a slight nod. "You and Raccoon will continue alone with the body from here on."

"Hai." Eagle answered, deciding against questioning the order.

Kakashi turned around and walked back towards Bear, pausing to pop a solider pill into his mouth before picking Bear up. Kakashi felt a surge of energy and chakra flow through his body as he placed Bear on his back. If he had timed it right, he wouldn't collapse due to exhaustion until he was in front of the hospital, if he hadn't then he at least hoped he'd be near enough to the village to be seen by a ninja patrol that had enough sense or experience to take them there.

----------------

Kakashi had been travelling at an extreme pace for the past hour, since he had left the rest of his team. Although his muscles had been aching in protest and his throat desperately cried out for water he didn't stop, if he did, he might not be able to continue.

'After I finally recover and stop getting sent on so many S-ranked missions I'm going to start more intense training, I need to get stronger if people like Orochimaru and Itachi are going to be targeting my students . Maybe I should join Gai in his training sessions from time to time' Kakashi shuddered at the thought of training alongside his spandex-wearing self-proclaimed rival.

"Se..Sempai?" Bear's weak voice asked snapping Kakashi out of his wandering thoughts.

"Yo. Don't speak or move around too much, you've lost a lot of blood" Kakashi answered, his voice hoarse.

Bear weakly nodded but asked "The Sound shinobi?"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at this "You killed yours, Raccoon's got away but not before she seriously maimed him, and I never managed to engage mine, but he seemed to be on his way out of Konoha's boundaries."

Kakashi heard Bear let out a grunt and felt as his head dropped onto his shoulder once again. Glancing back to see Bear out of it again he increased his pace as much as he could, which wasn't much but every second counted.

'There it is.' Kakashi thought, relief flooding into him as Konoha's gates came into his sight, not too far away.

Hopping down from the tree's he had been travelling in and unto the dirt road primarily used by civilians, he slowed down gradually until he stopped right in front of the pair of shinobi who were on guard duty.

Said shinobi quickly reacted to his presence, taking Bear from him and beginning to ask rushed questions that Kakashi ignored, it wasn't as if he was going to understand them with the speed they were talking in anyway.

Instead, Kakashi let the shinobi take Bear and fell to his knees, his legs giving way due to all the strain that had been put on them and hoarsely whispered "Hospital.. ANBU... entrance.." before allowing the rest of his body to follow suit and fall to the dirt floor.

"Alert the Godaime and..." Kakashi didn't even hear the end of the shinobi's scream before the darkness enveloped him.

-----------------

"Ugh." Sakura groaned waking up from her deep slumber "my head hurts..."

She tried to open her eyes but winced and quickly closed them shut again to avoid the way too bright light. Opening slowly to slight squints she tried to sit up but found herself being gently pushed back down.

"You shouldn't sit up just yet Sakura-chan" a sweet voice said.

Finally succeeding in adjusting her eyes to the bright room, she opened them completely and found herself looking up to see Shizune smiling down at her.

"Shizune-san, where am I?" Sakura asked disoriented, while she tried to look around the room but found that something prevented her from moving her neck.

"The hospital." Shizune answered as she took off the apparatus on Sakura's neck "we had to restrain your movement while you were asleep.. in case you moved your neck in a way that could damage your muscles. Does your neck hurt now?" She asked, gently massaging it with her cool hands.

"Not really, it's just a little sore.." Sakura answered absently. Then she met Shizune's gaze with her own confused-filled eyes and asked "Shizune-san, why am I here?"

Shizune's smile was replaced by a slight frown "You don't remember? Your team was in a battle and you were smashed into a tree and knocked out."

As if triggered by the medic-ninja's response, painful memories flooded back to Sakura. "Sasuke?!" she shrieked snapping up right and looking around the hospital room frantically. "I have to go after him!" she continued screaming while she made efforts to get out of the bed.

One of the ANBU was instantly by Sakura's bedside, firmly holding the squirming kunoichi down to the bed by the shoulders.

"Calm down, Sakura-chan." Shizune said in a soothing voice, and as the girl's eyes met her kind eyes she visibly calmed down and stopped squirming under the ANBU's grip.

"Sasuke-kun fine, he's in the room next to us having his injuries healed by Tsunade -sama. Naruto-kun is also being healed in another room. Do not fret your teammates are fine." she reassured her before turning to the ANBU and saying "You can let her go now Ostrich-san."

The ANBU nodded and returned to their post near the room's doorway with their partner, followed by Shizune who nodded to both of them before exiting the room

Sakura furrowed her brow when she noticed the presence of the second ANBU and the fact that they made no move to leave, instead stood there as if they were guarding _her_ and not the whole hospital. 'Sure we disobeyed sensei's order, but we can't be in _that_ much trouble. Can we? I mean.. if Sasuke-kun is still here it means that he decided to stay with us and defeated those creeps with Naruto. They really didn't look strong enough to even defeat Naruto alone, much less Sasuke _and_ Naruto together.'

Sakura grimaced as a realization that had becoming clearer and clearer since the at the Wave finally hit her: she was WEAK and was holding her Sasuke- no- was holding her _team_ back.

'I will work hard to catch up with them, and never hold them back so much again!' Sakura vowed to herself clenching her fist in determination.

Sakura silently stared up at the ceiling thinking and planning on the best way to help her teammates when she heard two heavy things being rolled into her room.

Propping herself up on her elbows in order to be able to see what was being brought in she gaped in shock at what she saw.

'What.. what happened?!' she thought as the unconscious Sasuke and Naruto were wheeled in by some medic-nins followed by four more members of the ANBU, who stopped to talk in hushed voices with the two who were already in the room.

Staring at her teammates, she felt the tears in her eyes threatening to fall. Sasuke was visibly bruised, the bandages around his torso had red spots where the blood had leaked through. Naruto seemed to be worse off if only by a little bit, his whole body besides being covered in bruises was also covered in burns. Yet even with so many injuries, their faces betrayed a sense of security... of happiness?

"The brats will be fine, they look worse than they are." A voice snapped Sakura out of her thoughts.

"Tsunade-sama!" Sakura exclaimed snapping her head to the side in order to see her.

Sakura groaned in pain as her neck protested the rapid movement and she fell back down on her pillow.

"Don't be so hasty, your neck still needs a bit more time to recover" Tsunade admonished though her eyes held a small gleam of amusement.

"Hai, Hokage-sama" Sakura said, grateful as the medic Sannin massaged her neck with fingers covered in green chakra, causing most of the surge of pain to melt away.

Slowly moving her head to the right to see her teammates being transferred to the once-empty beds that were next to her. "What happened?" She asked the Hokage in a soft voice.

"It seems that after you were knocked out, Naruto and Sasuke worked together against the enemy shinobi to try to get you away. They fought well, however they were no match for the enemy. Kakashi showed up and defeated one of the shinobi then proceeded to bring your team to the hospital for immediate treatment."

Sakura's eyes widened in shock, had she really underestimated her opponents that much? That was one of the first things taught at the academy for goodness' sake! _Never_ underestimated your opponent. Hadn't she learned that with Naruto? The supposed dobe?

Soon Tsunade's words caught up to her mind and the feeling of anger melted away, replaced instead by a feeling of dread. Fearing the worst, Sakura warily asked "Is Kakashi-sensei okay? You said he defeated one.. but there were four enemy shinobi."

"Yes, after he left you late last night he took a team to hunt down the other three. Don't worry though, Kakashi is an experienced shinobi and can handle himself. In fact he shouldn't be long now, he promised to be back before noon." Tsunade reassured the young genin, intentionally skipping the fact that Kakashi was probably tired from his last mission, but she didn't have any choice.. he was the only one who knew who to look for and who the ANBU squad would have let lead.

Tsunade kindly adjusted Sakura's pillow before lightly poking her forehead with a chakra coated finger. "Go to sleep, it'll hasten your healing rate. I'll wake you when the brats wake up themselves.." the Godaime ordered in a gentle voice.

"Hai, Hoka-" Sakura did not even finish her sentence before falling into the deep sleep.

"Get the Hokage we need help!" A yell came from the halls causing the Slug Sannin to whip around and rush out of the room to see what the commotion was.

Outside, she saw one of the Chuunins who had been assigned to guard the gates today running towards her.

"What is it?" she asked concerned, there was no reason for the chuunin to be acting like that unless..

"Hatake-san and an ANBU member arrived at the gates badly wounded. They're in the _other_ entrance to the hospital now." the Chuunin reported making sure to emphasize the word 'other'.

Tsunade tensed, what had happened? There were four members on the retrieval team, not two. Where were the others? What had gone wrong?

Tsunade shook the questions out of her head. In any case, that didn't matter, not now anyway. She had to get to the two who were here and only then would she be able to find out what happened during the mission and to the other two.

So without giving the Chuunin any response, teh Godaime Hokage raced through the halls and towards the restricted section, pausing only to tell her apprentice Shizune, to follow her.

* * *

Tsunade, sighed in relief as she finished examining Kakashi, it seemed that the brat had pushed his body and chakra to exhaustion and even further by drinking a solider pill, but otherwise he was fine. He had no new wounds and his old wounds had not re-opened which was very surprising given how hard he had pushed his body. All he needed was some well-deserved rest.

Bear on the other hand was pretty banged up, he was lucky he got here when he did, because if his injuries had gone untreated any longer they might have not been able to save him, or at the very least would have to amputate an infected body part. He would be fine though, the Hokage and the other medics had seen to that, he would just be confined to a hospital bed for a while and not be cleared for active duty for sometime after that.

Time of crisis or not, Tsunade was not risking her people when she didn't need to. Her eyes rested on Kakashi's sleeping form, she just wished that she had a lawful reason to give the jounin-sensei the break he deserved and needed in order to finally recuperate and enough time to get his team in order, but she couldn't. With any other ninja she maybe would have been able to just stop assigning them missions and nobody would notice or care, but Kakashi was no ordinary ninja. No, Kakashi was the Legendary Copy Ninja who knew over a thousand jutsus, and if she stopped sending him out on missions, the council would start complaining about it and cause political chaos. Something Konoha definitely did NOT need.

Sighing, she decided to think on the matter later. Tsunade gently tugged on the copy-ninja's shoulder to wake him up; something that she really wished she didn't have to do. The guy needed to rest.

"Kakashi, where are Eagle and Raccoon? Are they okay?" the Hokage asked him as he sat up.

"Hai, left them behind and hour or so in order to get BEar here before it was too late. They should be okay, Eagle was tired from his run and Raccoon was a bit roughed up, but it wasn't anything serious. They're escorting the body of one of the Sound Shinobi, the other two managed to get away." Kakashi responded unable to keep a hint of concern out of his voice.

Tsunade nodded, beckoned Shizune to her and whispered something in her ear, which the other medic-nin nodded to and rushed out of the room.

Directing her attention to Kakashi once again she said "Alright, we'll alert the patrols to keep their eye out for them. You can finish your report later, for now get some sleep. You need it."

Kakashi however made no move to lie back down and instead gestured to Bear. "How is he?" Kakashi asked.

"He'll be fine, all he needs now is time to heal. He's lucky you got him here when you did though, if not we might have not been able to save him." Tsunade said looking over at Bear again and doing a quick mental check.

"Good." Kakashi said seemingly satisfied before looking away from Bear and back at Tsunade. "How are my kids?" he asked.

Tsunade permitted herself a small smile at the gray-haired ninja's wording. _His kids_. She wondered if he noticed how attached he had grown to them and how much they had changed him the past couple of months.

"Tsunade-sama.." Kakashi's concerned voice interrupted her thoughs.

"The brats are fine, sleeping like babies under six ANBU member's watch. There's nothing to be worried about." She assured him and saw the young ninja visibly calm down.

"You better go to sleep too, if not you're never going to finish healing." Tsunade gently admonished.

"I want to see them." Kakashi said before biting back a chuckle and retorting "Besides, I think I'm getting used to going on S-ranked missions without sleeping and full of old unhealed injuries."

"Hatake Kakashi" The Godaime growled slightly. "You can see your team later, when they're awake. Do not make me put you in an induced sleep.." she warned.

"Okay, okay. You win." Kakashi said lying down, unable to keep the laughter out of his voice, he really needed some rest.

As soon as the Copy-Ninja's head hit his pillow, he was fast asleep.

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**A/N:** And there it was! Did you guys like it? I hope you did.. it took me a long time to figure out what write until I got a surge of inspiration on Valentines Day.

**Please** review? Pretty Please? I'll bake cookies and brownies for you! Unless you didn't like them which is why you stopped reviewing.. so I'll give you dango instead!


	7. Reunion in the Hospital

**Chapter Seven**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**A/N:** I would like to thank all of you for sticking with me, I know it's been a long time since I last updated, and I could give you a million excuses… but in the end they're just excuses right? So.., here's the next chapter:

Naruto opened his eyes and had to resist the urge to groan when he saw the plain white ceiling. There was no doubt about it, he was in the hospital. All the signs pointed to it: the ceiling, the smell, even the weird hand rails on the side of the bed.

Naruto sighed; hospitals brought back bad memories from before he was old enough to hide from drunk villagers. It brought recent memories too, like seeing Sasuke's and Kakashi's seemingly-dead bodies and the loathing look that Sasuke sent him yesterday afternoon. Naruto shuddered at the memories, and shook them out of his head. Besides, Naruto wasn't one for staying still, and sitting in a hospital bed all day would be irritating and not something he was looking forward to do.

He was going to get out of here, maybe if there wasn't anybody else in the room or if whoever his roommate was, was asleep, he could sneak out and search for Sakura and Sasuke and make sure they were okay, then he could go to Ichiraku's and maybe the old man would take pity on him and give him a bowl of ramen on the house.

Smiling, Naruto shifted over to his side to get a better look of the room he was in and plan his escape; however those plans were quickly put on hold. On the bed next to his, Sakura sat reading a scroll titled 'Types of Traps and how to Spot Them' before she closed it and placed it on a pile of scrolls next to her and reached out to grab a scroll from another pile.

"Sakura-chan! You're okay!" Naruto exclaimed as he rushed to her bed and started shaking her by her shoulders shocking her so that she let out a yelp and let the scroll she had picked out go flying to the other side of the toom.

"Naruto you ba-!" Sakura's scolding yell was cut short as she snapped her head back ti watch the scroll fly straight towards Sasuke's sleeping head.

It all happened in a flash, as the scroll hit Sasuke's head, his shinobi instincts took over and he jumped up langing on the bed in a defensive crouch, one hand shot to where his weapon's pouch usually was only to find the hem of the shorts that the hospital gave to its patients. Sasuke looked around the room to find his teammates staring at him, and he in turn met their gazes.

The three genin had frozen, the only things moving were their eyes as they met their teammate's eyes and scanned their bodies for any visible injuries, missing limbs, or anything that should not be, Upon realizing that they were okay, and that nothing causing permanent damage had happened, relief flooded through the young genin's minds.

Looking at Sasuke's defensive stance, and glancing at Naruto who was rolling on the floor laughing at Sasuke's reaction and position, Sakura tried to stifle a giggle but failed and instead fell back on her bed, laughing at the sight.

Sasuke quickly looked around, making sure no one else saw how he had woken before growling out a playful "Dobe" at Naruto who was still laughing uncontrollably, and falling into a sitting position on his bed, smirking along with his team's laughter.

After the laughter died down Sakura asked her teammates "Are you two okay? You seemed to have sustained a lot of injuries."

"Yeah, Sakura-chan. Those Sound-nins didn't hurt me that much!" Naruto grinned as he gave Sakura a thumb up.

"We'll be fine Sakura, it was nothing." Sasuke added.

"It was _not_ nothing, you three could have gotten killed if Kakashi hadn't shown up on time; and as it stands at least two of you will be staying under observation in the hospital for a few days." The genin jumped at the newcomer's voice and turned to see Tsunade enter the room, followed by Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei!" His three students exclaimed, even the normally silent and stoic Sasuke at seeing that their sensei was in one peace.

"Yo." Kakashi responded, curving his eye into his upside down u smile and giving them the peace-sign.

"It was lucky that all three of you decided to leave your houses late at night to go for a walk together, and that you happened to stumble across an enemy-nin trying to invade the village wasn't it?" Kakashi said in a cheerful voice while he gave them each a pointed look that told them he knew what had really happened and that it wasn't over yet.

The three students paled a little and Sakura tried to diffuse the tension that had suddenly filled the room by smiling sweetly and saying "Hai, sensei, but it was even luckier that you showed up as well. Did you get very hurt?"

However, Sakura's efforts were in vaina s the Hokage smirked and added "Yes, it was a good thing that your house arrest wasn't scheduled to begin until today, after all _obedient_ genin like you, wouldn't defy your sensei's orders."

"Speaking of which" Kakashi said as he looked around the room "it seems that it will be confinement to a hospital room instead of confinement to a house."

Naruto groaned and so did Sasuke inwardly, both had been planning to escape the horrid building as soon as possible and this turn of events would make it a lot more complicated and difficult.

Kakashi did not pay attention to the boy's obvious irritation and instead met Sakura's questioning gaze "Yes?"

"Sensei, I know Naruto and Sasuke-kun are hurt and need to be kept under observation for a while but why do I have to stay here as well?"

"Security precautions" Tsunade said before Kakashi had time to reply. She lowered her voice to almost match a whisper and said "Those ninjas last night were sent by Orochimaru to get that brat" she said nodding towards Sasuke "If Orochimaru really wants hi, then he'll send more of his lackeys after him, except this time they'll be stronger, and if he can't get Sasuke to join him, then he'll probably try to use his teammates to persuade him.:

Sakura gasped and felt a cold dread rising through her body, she turned to look at her teammates and saw them pale a bit before anger took over over. Naruto's eyes blazed with rage while Sasuke's narrowed eyes filled with cold wrath.

"Don't worry, Sakura" Naruto said in a low voice full of determination. "We won't let anything happen to you, and the teme won't be leaving us any time soon."

"Hn, for once the dobe is right, Whatever happens, we'll be ready to deal with it" Sasuke agreed. "If he's going to be sending stronger shinobi, then all we have to do is train harder and become strong enough to deal with them."

"Any more questions?" Kakashi asked after a few minutes and when his genin shook their head he eye-smiled and said "I'm leaving on a mission for a week, give or take a couple of days, but I have decided on what the first part of your punishment will be. I will probably still be on it when Tsunade-sama decides to release you from the hospital, so your instructions are these: you two" Kakashi said nodding towards Sasuke and Naruto "will be doing 10 D-Rank missions individually, in order to pay for the damage you've done to the water tanks on the roof. And you" Kakashi nodded to Sakura "will be doing 5 D-rank missions, also without pay. If you wish to do the missions together then I will be expecting twenty-five."

Naruto groaned and muttered a complaint under his breath causing Kakashi smile to grow as he stated "Make that fifteen and ten missions, and if you work together, then forty. I'll also be expecting them done before I come back."

Sasuke and Sakura shot Naruto a dirty glare, promising pain after this was over before Sasuke turned back to Kakashi and looked at him stoically before asking "What if we're released the day before you're back?"

If it was possible, Kakashi's grin grew larger and his eyes gained a sadistic glint to them "Then you'll have to hurry won't you? I guarantee there will be consequences if you don't finish by the time I'm back, and I promise you that you won't like them."

Sakura frowned and opened her mouth to say something but quickly shut it as Kakashi raised his eye brow quite threateningly.

Tsunade, who had been watching the scene from the background with amusement, stepped forward and said "Alright, back to bed all three of you, you'll never get out of here if you don't rest and heal your injuries. Kakashi set the seals and meet me in my office; I'll brief you on your mission then." And with that she left the room.

Kakashi placed seals on the windows and the doors and had a quick word with the ANBU in charge of guarding the door before turning to his students and saying "cya" before he disappeared in a poof of smoke.

"Hokage-sama." Kakashi announced his entrance from the Hokage's office window before jumping in and saluting.

"Kakashi, how are your injuries? Any discomfort at all?" Tsunade asked putting down the paperwork she had been looking over.

Kakashi shrugged and said "Nothing I won't recover from but quite honestly, Hokage-sama, I don't think that I could take on another S-ranked mission at the moment without endangering my teammates, the mission, or myself. I still have not recuperated from the injuries I've received in the recent battles."

Tsunade nodded "Yes, I am quite aware of that." She paused as Kakashi sent her a questioning glance before continuing "Which is why I am assigning you this particular mission. It seems that as of today in the morning I am one ANBU member and captain short, and with only a few of the squads in the village and so many things to protect and keep an eye on, I can't an incomplete squad."

Kakashi's eyes narrowed and he asked "So this means.."

Tsunade nodded and her voice took an tone filled with authority "Yes. Hatake Kakashi, from this day until the completion of your mission, you shall assume your former position of ANBU Captain, codename: Wolf, assigned to take temporary command of the squad led by injured Bear. Your squad is to rest until 1900 hours at which point you will replace the squad guarding the genin Team Seven. Dismissed."

Kakashi straightened up and responded "Hai!" before saluting and poofing out of the Hokage's office

**Author's Note:** Alright, there you go. I know it was short and wasn't very good but at least it's something isn't it? Unfortunately I'm not where I want to be yet so I'm still not sure about what to write, so if you have any suggestions or requests, especially about the following questions then please review and tell me. By the way, On Sunday I will be leaving for a summer program meaning I will have no internet access for three weeks, I'm hoping to use that time to write though, maybe get you an extra long chapter and finally get to the part I reeeaally want to write.

1) What type of D-Rank missions should Team Seven do?

2) How long should they be confined to the hospital? Should they have to rush to complete their missions?

3) Should Wolf and his ANBU squad be assigned to watch over them for the rest of the week?

4) Should Team Seven do their missions together?

5) Any other suggestions? Funny incidents that may happen? Anything in general?

**Reviewers will forever be loved!**

Sand


	8. Still in the Hospital

**Author's Note:** I want to thank all those who've continued following me, and offer fervent apologies for the lack of updates. I have not forgotten about this story, and I will do my best to continue working on it.

I'd like to know what you think about this (very) short chapter, as compared to the previous chapters, it's been a while since the last chapter and I would like to know if that has had an effect on the story and it's characters.

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Kakashi watched with amusement as his genin team fervently discussed their continued imprisonment in the hospital room and any options to get them out as soon as possible.

He stood in the corner of the room in his full ANBU garb, the only one of the team who was stationed inside in a visible location. The rest of his team was in hidden strategic locations around the floor and hospital to maximize security.

"We could try to sneak out…?" Naruto whispered as quietly as he could so that the ANBU in the corner wouldn't hear.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at the suggestion "And get in even more trouble than we currently are in? We already disobeyed direct orders and willingly left our houses while we were done house-arrest plus…" Sakura cut off nervously and gestured at Sasuke.

"Plus, Orochimaru put a lot of planning into _retrieving_ me" Sasuke spat out the word as if it was bile.

Naruto's eyes lost their usual playfulness and he met Sasuke's "and we're no match to them with our strength levels right now are we? If sensei hadn't shown up…." Sasuke looked away slightly uncomfortably and nodded.

"So, the fastest way to get out of here will be for you two to finish healing and get cleared to do the missions sensei assigned us." Sakura sighed in disappointment. She wasn't as restless and eager to get out of the small room as her teammates, but this was the second day they were here and a statue-like ANBU and teammates who couldn't decide if they hated each other or were best friends didn't make for the best roommates. "Thankfully, it shouldn't be much more time. With the Godaime personally in charge of your healing, and being prohibited to even stand up and move around much, you two should be healed in the next day or so." Sakura continued.

"Good! The faster we get out of here, the faster we can get done with those stupid missions!" Naruto jumped up only to be met by Sakura's fist.

"Baka! If you keep jumping around you'll take longer to heal and we won't get out of here in time to finish those missions!"

"Hn. Speaking of, I think we should go our separate ways for those missions."

Naruto and Sakura turned wide-eyed to Sasuke, not really comfortable with the prospect of leaving him alone with his recent attempt to leave them and the village.

"I won't go anywhere." Sasuke responded to their unspoken fears. "Be rational, it's not likely that we can complete forty missions before Kakashi-sensei gets back, especially if it's a short mission… which it probably is, he wouldn't leave us alone for a long time, especially after what happened."

Naruto frowned and opened his mouth to say something but stopped and grinned sheepishly instead rubbing his neck "I guess for once, you're right, Sasuke! Besides, you would just slow me down!"

"Yeah right, dobe, in your dreams" Sasuke smirked

Sakura looked from one teammate to the other, still unsure, but reassured by the friendly banter.

"All right, you three, back to your beds. You've been moving around too much today, and Sasuke and Naruto still need to bed rest." Shizune came in to do her rounds.

"And remember, complaining or talking after now, will only get extra missions to complete before Kakashi gets back. And he will know" Shizune gestured toward the ANBU in the corner.

Kakashi remained the unmoving Wolf, though he did allow himself a smirk behind his ANBU mask especially after his team uncharacteristically quickly scattered to their beds. He was pleased with the decision they came by to work on the missions separately, it was what he had hoped they'd do, which is why he'd assigned them so many missions.

Teamwork was one of the most important things he hoped to impress on his team, and they were making good progress towards that, but there were failings in the foundations they were building upon, and one misstep meant everything they had achieved could crumble down. With the atmosphere as tense as it was after the recent events, it was best to keep them separated when not under direct supervision of someone they respected, and he imagined they each would want time alone to process their thoughts.


	9. Finally Out!

**A/N: **Second Update this week, hopefully this sets the pace for new updates. I would really appreciate reviews with any constructive criticism you may give, especially because this chapter is again un-betaed (sorry!).

I apologize for the shortness, but it is at least longer than last chapter.

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"I guess you brats are well enough to not need to be here all day" Tsunade addressed Sasuke and Naruto flipping through the charts.

"It's about time baa-chan! That was taking forever!" Naruto rushed to the open window, only to crash into the latest ANBU guard stationed in their room and fall on his butt.

"Hey! What's your problem...!?" Naruto glared up accusingly, but the ANBU only titled its eagle-shaped mask in response.

"I didn't release you yet, idiot… there are certain conditions to your release, and if I find out that you don't obey them, you'll regret you hear me?" The Fifth Hokage glared at the orange-clad ninja threateningly.

Sasuke smirked in amusement but regretted it because almost immediately the Godaime's glare turned to him. "Wipe that smirk off your face because this applies to you too hothead." At Sasuke's resulting scowl she continued "Both of you are still suffering from chakra exhaustion, and the resulting injuries from the fight. Any use of charka can set back your recovery. Plus with the… problems you tend to encounter when using your charka, we would rather not risk it."

Sakura tilted her head in confusion at this "You mean the curse mark? I thought sensei had already taken care of it… and Naruto's chakra control has always been crazy, bit I wouldn't call it dangerous at any rate!"

Tsunade stared at Sakura for a second, before realizing that Sakura had been knocked out when Naruto had used the Kyuubi's chakra to transform the Toad Boss, and she was probably too inexperienced to understand the dangers Sasuke's curse mark presented, even when it was sealed. Her heart eyes softened for a second, the girl didn't know nor understand the obstacles her friends would have to go through, but she'd have to find out eventually because she was a part of their team, and they would need her support. Eventually they would talk to her, but not now.

The Godaime's eyes attained a dangerous gleam as she turned to look directly at Sakura "That's information you currently do not need to know. It's also information that is considered classified and dangerous. Consider yourself under orders not to bring this topic up with anyone. That order includes the latest incidents your team members have been involved in, including encounters with any missing ninjas. This is not something that is to be discussed lightly. Understand?"

"Ha..Hai, Hokage-Sama" Sakura stammered in surprise at the fierce tone the Hokage had used. She didn't understand what was happening, how could that question provoke such a reaction? She assumed there were things she didn't know regarding the mark Orochimaru had given Sasuke, he was after all he was a powerful defector of the Leaf and who knew what else he could do to Sasuke through the mark. But why were they being so cautious with Naruto? It wasn't as if he was a target of the Snake Sannin… and although he had really become incredibly more powerful in the past month or so, she didn't see any changes to suggest something had happened.

Sakura turned to look at her knucklehead teammate as he made faces while listening to the Hokage's instructions… could it be something from before? Something she had missed all throughout their time in the Academy and then on the same team? She wanted to know, she wanted to ask him directly, but now she was under orders not to… and with ANBU following their every move she didn't want to risk getting in trouble again.

"You'll go out and finish your missions each day, but after that you're all to return here, is that understood?" Tsunade prompted

"Hai!" Team Seven replied in unison, though internally groaning at the thought of having to come back to the hospital room instead of their homes each night. They knew better than to complain though, because Sasuke and Naruto still needed some medical supervision and Orochimaru might be planning to use Sasuke's affection for his teammates for his gain, it'd be easier to protect them with one ANBU team if they were in the same place. Besides, they were still under 'house-arrest' and their track record this past week wasn't exactly stellar.

Naruto turned back to go to the window again, just to fall to the floor once again as a result of a mighty Tsunade punch.

"Idiot! Didn't I just go over the no chakra usage rule with you? That applies for chakra-powered jumps too! Walk out the door and down the steps, and walk to wherever you need to go!"

"Ouch! But… Fine Baa-chan you win! It'll take forever to get anywhere and do anything though!" Naruto rubbed the sore spot in his head as he followed his teammates out the door.

Once Team Seven had exited the room, Eagle turned to close the blinds and Tsunade nodded closing the door behind them. When she turned back, the ANBU Squad was kneeling in front of her, Wolf at the point.

"Your kids are a handful Wolf, I don't envy you one bit, if you didn't already have grey-hair, they'd make it turn pre-maturely." Tsunade said casually, but of course there was no joking reply about how she had no idea or indignation that his hair was _silver_ not grey. She hadn't really expected one, Wolf was not the aloof Kakashi everyone knew, not when he was on duty and especially not when he and his team were being addressed by the village's leader.

"Wolf, I trust you've made the requisite preparation to handle their surveillance while they are out of the hospital?"

"Hai."

"Very well, then. Take good care of them and report any issues back to me. Disperse!"

"Hai Godaime-sama!" The four masked ninjas behind Wolf disappeared in small poofs of smoke.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow and the still kneeling Wolf. "Is there something else?"

"Team Seven's sensei has ensured that the team won't be assigned any mission that takes them past the village walls today, with one shadow of my team each plus a fourth travelling ANBU, it leaves the fifth member available to rest for the shift." Wolf explained.

Tsunade nodded, the strategy seemed to be sound, the genin would never be left alone, a rotating ANBU would confirm that all was well, and if trouble occurred they weren't likely to be impaired by tiredness because of the rest shift. It also allowed those on the team who still needed some medical attention for their injuries enough time to receive it. Still...

"And why are you telling me this?"

"I have taken the first rest shift, however, I have had sufficient rest and you are still without your guard. Though you may be the strongest in the village, it is still safer for you to be shadowed, and it would put many minds at rest. I will stay on duty and guard you." Wolf explained in an emotionless voice

Tsunade stared at the kneeling figure. Although Wolf did raise a valid point about the increased safety that a guard brought even just by 'appearance', she did not believe that the effect would be greater at this moment. After all, she (like the genin) had no intentions of leaving the village walls. Tsunade also knew the ANBU Captain needed more rest, he was still suffering from chakra exhaustion and the old injuries that hadn't been given a chance to heal… If it was up to her, Wolf would be restrained to a hospital bed resting, but with the council and the times as they were, this 'calm' duty was the best she could do.

She could tell him, that whether she had protection or not wasn't his business or duty and that this was a _temporary _reinstatement and that he shouldn't forget that, but his rigid posture indicated he'd continue arguing until he could without being disrespectful or disobedient. If she refused him this duty completely, he would simply find another duty that needed to be done and do it. At least as her guard, he'd be in a position where she'd be able to keep an eye on him.

"Fine. Disappear." She finally conceded and he flashed out of visibility.

She sighed. It seemed that with the return of the mask, his Wolf demeanor had also returned. It was one of the reasons he had been retired from active duty as an ANBU Captain, it wasn't that he wasn't good. He was one of the best and his teams and mission records were proof of that. It's that it wasn't healthy or right. As Wolf, Kakashi would tend to be 'on-duty' more than he was off, and he'd take as many missions as he could ever since after Minato's death. As if the constant work or missions would drown out the pain he felt. It wasn't what Minato would have wanted for the boy he considered his son.

Of course, the public aloof persona he adopted as Kakashi was not exactly an improvement. The cheerful persona was just a mask to hide the pain and stave off the concerns or interest of others. As a jounin, he still took as many missions as he was allowed, at least until he acquired Team Seven.

The change she had seen in him when he was with his team was a remarkable from the last time she had seen him in a small village where they had crossed paths during her wandering and one of his missions. He was still very broken, but it seemed that his team were healing him. Knowing that Itachi was after Naruto and Orochimaru was after Sasuke was hurting and breaking some of the hard-earned progress that had been made.

She had faith everything would work out though. She would do everything in her power to prevent her old teammate and the the Akatsuki from tearing that team, that family, apart. She owed that much at least, to Minato, Kushina, Sensei, and the others. If she was really honest, she'd even admit she cared for them a lot herself, to let anyone tear them apart and in doing so break them down.

Leaving the hospital, she scoffed. The four of those brats probably didn't even realize how much they needed each other.

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**Review Replies:**

**Shinobi of life - **Thank you for the review! That's an interesting suggestion, it would certainly follow the pattern of Team Seven's missions. I'll keep it in mind :).


	10. First Missions

**A/N:** One more chapter up before I leave on vacation. I'll try to continue to write while I'm gone but I sincerely doubt I'll be able to update for the next three weeks. This one chapter is dedicated to** Sailor Cosmos**. Thank you for your review and your loyalty, I'm sorry I kept you waiting for so many years.. your review made me smile, here have a cookie *gives weapon pouch shaped cookie*

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It was Iruka's shift at the mission desk when the genin of Team Seven arrived to receive their missions, so naturally the other shinobi manning the desk shooed his ex-students to him, not wanting to deal with them themselves.

"Separate or together?" Iruka asked while visually evaluating them. He had been told of the punishment missions they had been assigned but not what had occurred for them to deserve them. By the looks of the new bruises each sported, they might have been scuffling among each other or picking a fight with another team… which he could expect from Naruto and even Sasuke, but not Sakura. And it would be unlikely that the bruises and injuries would be so proclaimed.

"Separate, Iruka-sensei"

Iruka nodded looking down at the specific instructions their jounin-sensei had given the mission desk ninjas before he had left on his mission. The number required, nothing outside the village walls, nothing too physically strenuous, but also nothing pleasing as it was a punishment of sorts after all.

"With most of the village's civilian workforce being focused on reconstruction and a large percentage of shinobi being away on missions, the normal day to day needs have been somewhat neglected and need to be addressed." Iruka explained handing out each individual three folders with the mission details.

"Naruto, your mission is to clean the faces of the Shodaime and the Nidaime. You know where the tools are, report back when you're done."

Naruto's eyes widened and opened his mouth to complain but Iruka's glare silenced him. "It's your mission. Missions are not up to debate. Go."

Grumbling under his breath, Naruto skimmed the contents and handed back the folder with the mission description. He gave his teammates a last glance and a grin "See ya guys later."

Sakura watched Naruto with slight pity, that wasn't a mission she envied. Opening her folder, she hoped hers wasn't similar." Sakura, your mission is the proper maintenance of the first two Academy training grounds. Replace broken targets, re-stuff straw dummies, etc.

Sakura nodded and returned the folder as she finished reading it. "Hai, Iruka-sensei. Bye Sasuke-kun, I'll see you soon."

Sasuke grunted a farewell to his teammates, not looking up from the folder he was reading. These missions were obviously designed to be unpleasant, and it was no coincidence he and his teammates were assigned to them. Sensei was a thorough man.

"Sasuke, the Daimyo's wife is preparing to go on an extended trip. She has requested our assistance in preparation. Report to her." Iruka-sensei addressed the last member of Team Seven.

"Hai." Sasuke returned the briefing folder, and headed out to the Daimyo's residence.

* * *

All genin were aware of who the Daimyo's wife was, and it was perhaps Naruto who had described her the best as that "annoying old hag". She thought that because she was the Daimyo's wife, the shinobi of the Leaf were completely at her service and discretion, to chase her constantly run-away cat, and do her errands. However, because she WAS the Daimyo's wife, most of her requests were humored, to keep the shinobi-civilian relationship positive and civil, to many genin's dismay... those (mostly unpaid) missions usually fell to them. Howe

It was a harsh mission, as the mission parameters pretty much ordered Sasuke to do anything she said within reason for the next few hours. Looking up at the Hokage's Monument and seeing a tiny Naruto hanging off a few ropes wiping down the Shodaime's face however made him decide that the dobe had the worst mission of the three.

Coming up on the Daimyo's residence, he noticed the long line of wagons waiting off the side to the road, most likely for the Daimyo's wife's trip. He nodded curtly at the guards who upon seeing his forehead-protector let him in without question and headed towards the entrance of the large home to be greeted by one of the house servants and led to the Daimyo's wife.

"Shijimi-Sama." Sasuke bowed greeting her respectfully.

"Oh, you must be the ninja sent over to help me prepare for my upcoming trip!" She greeted him in a loud and obnoxious voice, hugging her cat tightly.

Sasuke winced, she was worse than Naruto, and that was saying a lot. "Yes ma'am. What services may I help you with?"

"The first thing I need you to do is to load those packages to the caravans waiting out in front. Be very careful! I have delicate things and gifts for my hosts!" She gestured behind her to a room that seemed to be overflowing with crates and packs.

"Hai."With a sigh and a thought of the long day he had ahead, Sasuke got to work.

* * *

Sakura let herself groan as she entered the first Academy training ground. The field was a mess not just from academy students using the training grounds, but there was also minimal damage because of the invasion. She guessed some of the fighting had occurred here before moving to some place else.

With the Academy officially out of session for the past few weeks and reconstruction underway in the rest of the village, no one was spared to fix it. Academy students could have managed, but they weren't allowed in here without supervision.

It wasn't a hard mission to accomplish, but it was definitely going to take her most if not all of the day without help. That meant she'd only get one mission off Kakashi's required number today, less than she had hoped for.

Walking around the clearing, she decided to pick up the miscellaneous trash, objects and weapons lying around first, then she'd move on to fixing or replacing the actual targets and dummies, and then she would… well, then she'd decide where to go from there. No sense in getting ahead of herself, the first two tasks would take hours to finish.

* * *

Naruto wiped the sweat off his brow. The sun seemed to be unbearably hot today, though it probably was this enormous mind-numbing task that made it seem so. Scraping some bird poo from the Shodaime's chin, he groaned wondering what his teammates were doing.

"Whatever it is, it probably isn't as bad as this!" Plummeting down to sit on the wooden platform, he looked out toward the village…

Sasuke knew there was something inside him making his chakra weird, but he hadn't said anything or treated him any different than usual because of it… the battle on the rooftop had been because of Naruto's strength, not the monster that lay within him. Maybe it was because Sasukee was the one person who could understand him; with the curse mark that Orochimaru had given him was sort of the same, wasn't it? A source of great power but also of great evil.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. The rest of the village didn't see it that way, to them he was just a demon walking amongst their midst… He loved Sakura and valued her friendship vey much, but that was all coming to an end… she'd learn sooner or later about the stupid fox inside of him, and then she would turn against him too. She barely tolerated his presence before, but now she would hate him like the others… Naruto wiped the unwanted tears away. He wasn't sure he could deal with Sakura's hate.

He checked the sun's position before deciding that the break was over. He was lucky the mission only included two heads, and not the five. He smiled in memory of thhe time he had painted over the Hokage Monument, Iruka had been furious and he had been forced to stay into way late into the night to clean all the paint off.

* * *

Turtle, the rookie of his ANBU team, watched in sympathy as Naruto cleaned the stone faces. He had overheard the young blonde's muttered thoughts. He was well aware of the hatred directed towards the young genin because of his unwilling host, but he hadn't known how much it affected him. This protection mission was the first instance he had the opportunity to be near with what the others had called the "Demon-brat", but he hadn't seen any 'evil' attributes that many claimed he had…

* * *

Phoenix could hardly wait the time for a shift rotation. He was convinced that Wolf-Taichou had chosen to punish him as well by assigning him to guard Sasuke for the first shift. He had been trained to tolerate the most unbearable of circumstances and would do battle with a hundred opponents for his village, but he was willing to compare this duty with torture, even if the poor Uchiha heir was bearing the worst of it.

* * *

Raccoon comfortably perched on a high branch of a tree, as she guarded the only female-member of Team Seven. She was still sore from her injuries, and while she could perform any of her duties without much trouble, it did not mean that she couldn't take advantage of an opportunity like this to give her body a small comfort or rest. The training ground was ideal for this, easy to conceal oneself yet still be readily available.

She watched Sakura move about picking up the litter in the clearing in an efficient yet very slow manner. This task would have gone a lot faster if she had her team with her, or…. Thinking on the dysfunctional match that team made, maybe not.

It was a lot to do… maybe she would help out just a bit. No one would notice the disappearance of weapons within the small forest, and she could use some spare training sets.


End file.
